Fisheries Investors and Exporters Conclave 2026 Held in Bhopal

The Fisheries Investors and Exporters Conclave 2026 was held at Bhopal on 23 October 2026 by the Madhya Pradesh Department of Fisheries together with the Union Department of Fisheries and the National Fisheries Development Board. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and Panchayati Raj Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Minister of State S.P. Singh Baghel and the State's Fisheries Minister Narayan Singh Pawar took part, with more than 1,000 fish farmers from across the State.

What was released

The Union Minister and the Chief Minister released the Madhya Pradesh Fisheries Investment and Export Guidelines, 2026 and the Standard Operating Procedures for Inland State Export Potential. Integrated cage culture units were inaugurated virtually, and administrative approval was handed over for the integrated development of reservoirs and Amrit Sarovars in the State.

The money and the reservoirs

Under the Budget Announcement for 2026-27, the Centre approved integrated development of 49 reservoirs in Madhya Pradesh at a project cost of Rs 8755.60 lakh and of five Amrit Sarovars at Rs 69 lakh, an investment of Rs 88.25 crore in all. The State has 4.50 lakh hectares of inland water area, including 3.75 lakh hectares of reservoirs, and has set up 316 cages in the Halali Reservoir, which is notified as a Reservoir Fisheries Cluster.

National figures quoted

• India's fish production reached 197.75 lakh MT in 2024-25, of which inland fisheries gave 151.60 lakh tonnes, close to three-fourths of the total.
• Seafood exports were valued at Rs 73,890 crore in 2025-26.
• India sells fish to 130 countries, yet the inland States account for only 2 per cent of fisheries exports even though their production has risen by 147 per cent.
• Freshwater species such as Pangasius and Tilapia make up 2 per cent of seafood exports, and the target is to raise their share to 10 per cent in five years.

How Madhya Pradesh has grown

Approvals under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana for the State add up to a project cost of Rs 910.81 crore, with a Central share of Rs 305.50 crore, of which Rs 301.27 crore, or about 98.61 per cent, has been released. The interventions include 78 hatcheries, 1,157 units using recirculating aquaculture and biofloc methods, expansion of pond area by more than 5,700 hectares and one Integrated Aquapark. Fish production in the State climbed from 2.00 lakh MT in 2019-20 to 4.45 lakh MT in 2024-25, a rise of about 123 per cent.

What the leaders announced

The Chief Minister announced three steps: tying fisheries to the food processing industry, support for fisheries enterprises under the MSME framework, and the launch of the Madhya Pradesh Fisheries Policy 2026 with land allocation for such enterprises. He said the State's irrigation potential had risen to 60 lakh hectares and the target is 100 lakh hectares. The Chief Secretary, Ashok Barnwal, said production could go from 4.5 lakh tonnes to 10-11 lakh tonnes in two to three years, adding about Rs 5,000 crore of annual income and benefiting at least 50,000 people.