Distribution problems and marketing management of marine fisheries in India

Demand and price of marine fish are continuously increasing in our domestic and export markets. Fish marketing system in India is rapidly changing in recent years due to the vast improvement in handling technology, transportation and consequent market penetration. This paper deals with the fish marketing system prevailing in India, price structure, marketing margins of commercially important varieties offish and the share of fishermen as well as middlemen in consumer's rupee at selected centres of Gujarat, Maharastra, Karnataka, Kerala, TamilNadu and Andhra Pradesh during 1996-97 by direct observation. The fishermen's share in consumers' rupee varied from an average of about 30 to 68% for different varieties. Marketing costs including transportation ranged from 6 to 13%, wholesalers from 5 to 32% and retailers from 14 to 47% of consumers' rupee for different varieties of fish. Considerable inter-state variation in consumers preference and fishermen's share in consumer rupee for different varieties offish has been observed. A few suggestions for the improvement offish marketing systems have also been given.