DEEP SEA FISHING POLICIES IN INDIA FROM 1981 TO 2014– AN ANALYSIS Dr. A. Ramachandran Professor, Fisheries Management School of Industrial Fisheries, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, India Mobile: +91 9447062400; e.mail: rahul_rama@hotmail.com Formulation of deep Sea Fishing Policy and its revisions in India are like rituals in the hands of few officials in the Ministry of Agriculture. Policies are drafted and implemented overnight without consultations and examining the aftermaths of the previous policy, its impact on the coastal resources and the stakeholders. The policy makers are not the real stakeholders but the beneficiaries of the existence of a Department claiming to protect the interest of the coastal community. Unlike most other developing countries, India has never signed a fisheries access agreement with a distant water fishing nation (DWFN), and has persisted for decades in its attempts to develop its own offshore industrial fisheries to protect the national interest. Indian marine fishing region can be broadly classified into coastal fishing within the territorial waters administered by the Coastal States/Union Territories (Union List II) and the deep sea/offshore fishing beyond territorial waters up to the boundary of EEZ claimed to be administered by the Central Government (Union List I) by virtue of the authority given under the Constitution of India. List III contains a list of items which fall under the shared responsibility of both the Union Government and the States (Concurrent List), and both the Indian Parliament and the State Legislatures have power to pass laws regarding these items. In practice, traditional fishing vessels operate within 50 meters in depth and small-scale vessels of less than 20m LOA operate up to 200 meters with exceptions of few vessels operating beyond 200 meters up to the 200 nautical mile border of the Indian EEZ. Coastal Fishing Policy has been an open access regime, with many entrants exploiting coastal marine resources to their full potential. There are no legal provisions in place below State level to legislate for fisheries management at the local level. All the Acts promulgated by the legislatures of the Coastal States have given emphasis to the protection of the interest of the local fishermen with special consideration to traditional sector. This has led to zonation in the territorial waters for traditional, motorised and mechanised vessels in all these acts in order to reduce conflicts on the user rights among these groups. There is little priority for the issues of sustainability of the resources. There is no Act or Regulation in place in India to regulate Indian Fishing Vessels or manage fishery resources beyond territorial waters up to the boundary of EEZ of India when tiny countries like Maldives have efficient laws to regulate and manage fishery resources in their EEZ. Only legislation available in this zone is the Maritime Zones India (Regulation of Fishing by Foreign Vessels) Act of 1981 and its regulations of 1982 for foreign fishing vessels. Even this Act or regulations do not cover anything to protect or conserve marine fishery resources. This means there is no law available in the country to prevent any Indian fishing vessel from using any destructive fishing methods or even destroy the fishery resources beyond repair in Indian waters beyond the territorial limits up to the boundary of EEZ. There was an attempt made by the Government of India to draft a bill for fisheries regulations and management in 2009 but still the bill could not be placed in the parliament for its consideration. Now it is being considered with some modification as 2012 bill. India is the only country in the Indian Ocean to have no regulations for domestic vessels in this water zone. Let us look at the previous Fisheries Policies and fate of those policies. The first deep-sea policy was announced by Government in 1977, providing for chartering arrangements with foreign operators, which was followed by a Charter Policy in 1981 for introduction of sophisticated foreign fishing vessels for promotion of deep sea fishery. Maritime Zones of India (Regulation of Fishing by Foreign Vessels) Act of 1981 requires 60 percent of capital to be held by Indian citizens in joint venture companies, and an obligation to train Indian fishermen. The Government revised the policy in 1986 to rectify the deficiencies noticed during its operation and to make it more