NEW DELHI: Consumption of fish in rural areas of Lakshwadeep is over 16 times the national average with Goa at second spot. Contrary to popular belief, Kerala and West Bengal come third and fourth respectively. In rural areas of Chandigarh, there are hardly any takers.

According to the latest data, Indians on an average consume just 269 grams of fish per month in rural areas while in urban areas it’s 238 gram. Noticeably, just about 282 of 1000 households in rural areas consume fish, while the number is 209 households for urban areas.

Compare this with Lakshwadeep where the rural population consumes on an average 4.4 kg of fish a month. In urban areas, it’s slightly less at 4.1 kg.

The latest Handbook on Fisheries Statistics released by the agriculture and animal husbandry ministry shows that the second highest consumption is in Kerala, but it’s just about half of the Lakshwadeep’s average. In Kerala, those in rural areas consume about 2.1 kg of fish a month, while in urban areas it is 1.9 kg.

One interesting part is almost all household in rural Goa eats fish while it’s 893 per 1,000 households in urban areas. In Kerala 884 rural households for every 1,000 consume fish. In case of urban areas, it’s little less at 817. West Bengal, which ranks fourth in the list, has also over eight out of every 10 rural and urban households consuming fish.





The report also shows how export of fish and fish products have gone up in the past four years, primarily due to an exotic shrimp (prawn) variety introduced in 2009 called L Vannamei. Against the total export of 6.78 tonnes valued at Rs 10,048 crore in 2009-10, it increased to Rs 30,213 crore during the last financial year. Only L Vannamei accounted for Rs 20,000 crore.

The other major steps taken by the ministry included guidelines framed for coastal aquaculture

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