A new transitions policy index to assess the co-benefits of infrastructural enhancement and technological development for Sustainable Marine Fisheries Management in India

The values of transitions (i.e., step or stage wise changes to crafts, gears etc.) and transformations (the aggregate of fishery operations and the nature of fishing e.g. subsistence to industrial) of marine fishery sector with respect to the national policies have to be critically addressed to successfully achieve the targets of Sustainable Development Goals SDG14. The present study details the development of a transitions policy index to assess the impacts of marine policies in India during the period 1950 to 2022, while transforming from a largely subsistence fishery sector (Production only model; “P-only”) to an industrial fishery sector of modern times (Production, Marketing, Storages and Transportation; “P + M + S + T” model). Over this period, the weightages to the policies which lead to the growth of infrastructure (e.g. storages, transportation, markets etc.) and technological capacity building of fishers (e.g. development and dissemination of satellite-derived Marine Fishery Advisories; MFAs as public goods) were integrated to evolve an index to determine the balance of the transitional and transformational values for a Sustainable Fishery model (SFM) for India. Analyses revealed the relative efficiency of the use of Catch per Unit Craft (CPUC) as a better policy handle to assess the infrastructural and technological values associated with non-motorised, motorised and mechanised crafts. The study also revealed that the use of MFAs can be helpful to move towards the SFM model by reducing the emissions and achieving the optimal Social Cost of Carbon (SCC).