The National Marine Fisheries Census (MFC) 2025 was introduced in Kochi by Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying George Kurian. This marks the transition of the marine fishing industry from paper-based to entirely digital household enumeration. During the event, the minister also unveiled the VyAS-BHARAT and VyAS-SUTRA mobile applications, which will be utilized to carry out the census. The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying stated that “the census will digitally enumerate approximately 1.2 million fisher households in around 5,000 marine villages across 13 coastal states and union territories, including the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.”
With the aid of specifically created mobile-based applications, the census will enumerate fishermen, fishing vessels, equipment, and infrastructure at the household level throughout more than 1,200 landing centers, 50 fishing harbors, jetties, markets, and processing facilities. According to the ministry, the enumeration would be entirely digital and paperless, and it will be carried out through multilingual Android applications created by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR). The collection of core household data will occur over a 45-day period, from November 3 to December 18.
