Kochi: Union Minister of State for Fisheries George Kurian on Friday launched the household enumeration phase of the fully digitised National Marine Fisheries Census (MFC) 2025 at the ICAR–Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) in Kochi.

Kurian urged all officials and enumerators to ensure that every fisher and fish worker is registered on the National Fisheries Digital Platform (NFDP), noting that such registration is mandatory to receive benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana (PM-MKSSY).

“Only fishermen and fish farmers registered on the portal will be eligible for central government financial assistance,” the minister said, adding that registration can be done through Common Service Centres (CSCs).

Calling the 2025 edition a milestone in India’s digital and data-driven fisheries governance, Kurian said, “This marks a major technological leap as the first fully digitised data collection in the history of Indian fisheries.” He urged state fisheries departments, local bodies, and community organisations to extend full cooperation to make the Smart Census, Smarter Fisheries initiative a success.

During the launch, live demonstrations of real-time data collection from Maharashtra and Kerala were shown, using the CMFRI-developed mobile applications VyAS Bharat and VyAS Sutra. The apps enable geo-tagged data capture, instant verification, and seamless transfer to central servers, ensuring transparency and accuracy.

According to CMFRI, the 45-day nationwide enumeration will run from November 3 to December 18, covering over 1.2 million fisher households across 4,000 marine fishing villages in nine coastal states and four Union Territories, with thousands of trained field staff participating.

The exercise is being coordinated by the Department of Fisheries under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), with CMFRI as the nodal agency and the Fishery Survey of India (FSI) as the operational partner.

Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Fisheries Dr Ajay Srivastava presided over the function. Union Fisheries Secretary Dr Abhilaksh Likhi, Joint Secretary Neetu Kumari Prasad, ICAR Assistant Director General Dr Shubdeep Ghosh, CMFRI Director Dr Grinson George, CIFT Director Dr George Ninan, FSI Director General Dr Sreenath K R, and Marine Census Principal Investigator Dr J Jaysankar were among those present.

The launch was followed by a national workshop featuring presentations from coastal states and interactions with representatives of fishing communities.