Overview
- Union Minister George Kurian launched the household-enumeration phase at CMFRI in Kochi, with live field data demonstrated from Maharashtra and Kerala using VyAS Bharat and VyAS Sutra.
- Enumeration will run from November 3 to December 18 to reach roughly 1.2 million fisher households, though reports differ on coverage between 4,000 villages in 9 states and 4 UTs and about 5,000 villages in 13 coastal states and UTs including the island territories.
- Registration on the National Fisheries Digital Platform is mandatory to receive financial assistance under PM-MKSSY, and sign-ups can be completed at Common Service Centres.
- The census expands beyond crafts and gears to record household socioeconomics and value‑chain roles, including ornamental fish workers and seaweed collectors.
- The Department of Fisheries is coordinating under PMMSY with CMFRI as nodal agency and FSI as operational partner, using real-time supervisory dashboards; a ₹16.2 crore allocation was cited for the exercise.