Main body
On March 11, 2020, the WHO
announced COVID-19 a pandemic1 .To limit the
spread of COVID-19, on 24 March 2020, the Government of India
implemented a cross-country lockdown for 21 days of the entire 1.3
billion population2 . The unprecedented
pandemic lockdown threw a challenge to all types of industries,
transport, fishing boats and trawlers operations as day to day life came
to a standstill (Figure 1 ), and has severely interrupted not
only the fisheries supply and demand chain but also the tourism sectors
in India plays a major role in Blue Economy of India. The Blue Economy
(BE) is the maintainable utilization of ocean resources for financial
development, improved employments, and occupations while preserving the
health of the ocean ecosystem3 . The BE
represents about 3.5 to 7% of the global
GDP4 . The commercial value of activities
associated with the world’s oceans are estimated to be between US$ 3 to
6 trillion.This is accrued from services and resources, e.g. marine
transport (90% of overall trade), source of food (fisheries and
aquaculture), marine tourism (5% of the global GDP) and global
employment (6-7%). The General Assembly of UN adopted the 2030 agenda,
in September 2015, for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDG-14,
about “Life Below water”, commits countries to conserve and
sustainably use oceans, seas and marine resources, by implementing
international law as reflected in United Nations Convention for the Law
of the Sea (UNCLOS), which provides the legal framework for the
conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources for BE.
The Indian government stands focused on advancing the BE through
undertakings like the “SagarMala” project which plans to promote
port-led improvement and sustainable development of coastal communities
through ability improvement and livelihood generation activities,
fisheries development, coastal tourism, etc.6 India is
a trade-surplus country in the fisheries sector and exports were more
than 31.5 times higher than its imports in fiscal year (FY) 2013. India
exports US$ 2.4 billion, its imports were US$ 76 million, registering
a trade surplus of US$2.32 billion in the corresponding
year5. As the 6th largest exporting
country of the world, India exported shellfish worth a total of US$3.89
billion and finfish of US$1.16 billion in FY 2015. In the global
fisheries production, India was 2nd in freshwater
fish, 3rd in finfish, and 6th in
shellfish in FY 2013. In fish trade, India was the 8thlargest exporter and 88th largest importer of the
world in FY 20135. Prior to the pandemic, export of
fisheries products had grown by 11% from $136 billion in 2013 to $152
billion in 2017, but it is expected to drop by 33% this year due to the
current COVID-19
situation7 (Figure.2 ). Like
the fisheries, travel and tourism are major economic sectors for small
island developing states, generating around $30 billion/yr. The
situation has resulted in the near total collapse of livelihoods centred
around fisheries, tourism and related economic activities.The overall
decline in worldwide arrivals estimated to cause a loss of $7.4 billion
equivalent to 7.3% fall in GDP8 .Loss of
export revenue from tourism is estimated at about US$ 910 billion to
US$ 1.2 trillion in 20209 . The tourism
industry in India contributed US$ 2.65 billion to India’s GDP in 2019,
but due to the COVID-19 outbreak, about US$ 17 billion in revenue loss
is expected in the next one year10 . BE
comprises 4.1% of India’s economy11 and
India GDP collapsed 23.9 % i.e, (~ 0.05 % BE) of first
quarter of 2020-2112 during pandemic. Hence,
the closure of trade routes, fishers and tourist is impacting the BE of
India. There is a clear unprecedented need for recovery, resilience and
management measures for the BE, which include tourism and maritime
transport, is essential to accomplishing the objectives of the SDG-14
goal. Improve detectability and compliance with sanitary measures,
enhance safety and social assurance of crew and support sustainable and
alternative livelihood through economic activities of small-scale
fishers and coastal population. In BE industries to trim down
transmission of COVID-19, has recommended some precautionary measures
such as avoiding close contact with people suffering from acute
respiratory illness, regular hand washing with soap & water or hand
sanitizer particularly after direct contact with sick people or their
environment, using proper face mask over a time during fishing,
processing, cold storage and transporation to ports, vessels and to
destination of countries. The people, community who directly contact at
various work place of BE industries should be supported by government
over period of regular health checking, monitoring followed by treatment
for further preparatory of the work in fishing, aquaculture, tourism and
other marine industries for supplementary recovery of BE contributed
GDP.
A comprehensive plan by the Indian government setting up regulatory
reform to provide an empowering climate for a sustainable ocean economy
(e.g., comprehensive integrated ocean management and marine spatial
planning (MSP) processes and shift harmful subsidies to more sustainable
and equitable uses. In this context, MSP is considered as significant
instrument for the sustainable development of the blue economy of marine
areas and coastal regions of India, which can provide long-term
resilience and sustainable progress to make a sustainable blue recovery.