India is losing thousands of crore per year due to illegal or unreported fishing from its water by foreign vessels, said a report released by international NGO Greenpeace.

“India’s lucrative commercial fish resources, including one of world’s last healthy tuna stocks are being systematically exploited by fishing vessels of foreign origin as a result of the letter of permit scheme and in turn impacting livelihood of millions and business interest of the Indian fishing sector, creating significant losses to Indian exchequer by way of revenue  and destruction of marine habitats,” the report titled ‘License to loot’ said.

The loss of the revenue, alleged Greenpeace, is primarily due to country’s flawed policy called letter of permit (LoP) in effect since 2002.

It was introduced ten years ago to improve deep sea fishing. Under the scheme, introduced by the ministry of agriculture, Indian fishing firms could buy tuna long liners from foreign companies and operate them in India waters. In return for the LoP, the vessels would have to satisfy certain conditions including using some Indians in the crew, registering the boat in India and reporting all the catch from the Indian water.

“Each of these conditions has been violated,” said Areeba Hamid, Oceans Campaigner, Greenpeace India.  According to the report vessels have 100 percent foreign crew, have dual registration and under-report the catch.

“Indian stands to lose as long as the ministry of agriculture continues with the scheme. LoP creates a framework for illegal fishing in our waters and the scheme needs to be scrapped right away,” said Vivekananda, adviser, national fisher workers forum (NFF).   

The forum, apart from demanding a CBI inquiry on the matter, has also filed a petition in the Andhra Pradesh high court.

“Neither the fishing sector nor does India benefit from this scheme. Estimates suggest that each of these vessels earn up to Rs 11 crore per season by way of catch value and in return pay India a onetime licensing fee of Rs 10,000. In effect the LoP scheme is facilitating, intentionally or otherwise, the pillage of marine resources and India’s income,” said Dr Y G K Murthy, president of association of Indian fisheries industries.