Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI)

ABOUT CMFRI - Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute

The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute was established in the government of India on 3 February 1947 under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and later, in 1967, it joined the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) family and emerged as a leading tropical marine fisheries research institute in the world. The Headquarters of the ICAR-CMFRI is located in Kochi, Kerala.
Initially the institute focused its research efforts on creating a strong database on marine fisheries sector by developing scientific methodologies for estimating the marine fish landings and effort inputs, taxonomy of marine organisms and the biological aspects of the exploited stocks of finfish and shellfish on which fisheries management were to be based. This focus contributed significantly to development of the marine fisheries sector from a predominantly artisanal, sustenance fishery till the early sixties to that of a complex, multi-gear, multi-species fisheries.

The institute has four regional centres located at Mandapam, Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Vizhinjam and seven regional stations at Mumbai, Chennai, Calicut, Karwar, Tuticorin, Veraval and Digha. There are also fifteen field centres and 2 KVKs (Ernakulam and Kavaratti, Lakshadweep) under the control of the institute.

Vision

Sustainable marine fisheries through management intervention and enhanced coastal fish production through mariculture for improved coastal livelihoods.

Mission

To develop an information based management system for changing over from open access to regulated regime in marine fisheries, augment coastal fish production through mariculture and sea ranching and restore critical marine habitats.