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MoSPI released a concept paper proposing a method to assign a monetary value to India's marine fish stocks, reported on 27 August 2026.
The approach applies the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA), which links environmental data to national accounts.
Fish in the sea are treated as a natural capital asset, and the catch as income drawn from that asset.
Value is estimated as the net present value of expected future resource rents, discounted at a proposed 2 per cent real rate.
Only a handful of countries compile monetary accounts for aquatic resources; India has run environmental accounts since 2018 through EnviStats India.
Production data records how much was landed this year. An asset account asks what the underlying stock is worth, so a rising catch drawn from a shrinking stock shows up as wealth being run down rather than as growth.
Simple Analogy: Reading the bank balance, not only the month's withdrawals.
Sustainable and responsible development of the fisheries sector - the 'Blue Revolution'
Key: Launched in May 2020 with an estimated investment of Rs 20,050 crore, implemented by the Department of Fisheries under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying; allotted Rs 2,500 crore for 2026-27
Compile India's environmental accounts
Key: Run by MoSPI since 2018, covering land, water, forests, minerals and pollination - the marine fish paper extends it to the sea
Provide an international statistical standard linking environmental stocks and flows to the national accounts
Key: A United Nations framework; SEEA-Fisheries is its fisheries-specific guidance
GS Paper 3 > Indian economy - resource mobilisation and growth; environment and conservation; GS Paper 2 > Government policies
General Awareness > Indian economy, national accounts and government statistical bodies
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, a United Nations statistical framework that links data on environmental stocks and flows to the national accounts.
The income attributable purely to a natural resource, left after deducting labour costs, operating expenses, depreciation and a normal return on the capital employed.
The value today of a stream of expected future income, discounted at a chosen rate - here a proposed 2 per cent real rate over each species' asset life.