Post-harvest losses in the fisheries sector-facts, figures, challenges and strategies

Abstract

Post-harvest loss in fisheries (PHFL) denotes the loss of harvested fish due to physical, quality and other unavoidable circumstances in the market. Here, the fish is being either discarded or disposed at a relatively inferior price. About 35% of the total harvest from world fisheries are subjected to PFHL annually. The detailed categorization of causes of PHFL include loss in nutritional value, physical damage, quality deterioration, economic/market force losses, loss due to traditional methods of processing, distribution and storage losses and insect contamination. The features that make the Indian fisheries and aquaculture as an important food producing sectors are, that it provides nutritional security, contributes to the agricultural productivity and engages about 14 million people in primary and secondary activities. India faces an annual post-harvest loss of ₹61,000 crores, which in turn results in huge deficits in the income of fishermen. This could be a probable reason for the sector that is yet to achieve a higher annual growth rate than that recorded in the recent years, which is only 7%. In this paper, we highlight the post-harvest loss relating to value chain-based assessment, economic loss assessment, food security-based assessment and the impact of pandemics. The recognized tools used in the estimation of PHFL are informal fish loss assessment (IFLAM), load tracking method (LT) and questionnaire-based loss assessment (QLAM) method. There should be strategies such as developing standard package of practices, live fish marketing systems and capacity building programmes for fishermen and processors to minimize the PHFL.