On 20 August 2026, marking the Silver Jubilee of the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), the Ministry of Earth Sciences released the National Report on Deep-Sea and Distant-Water Fishery Resources of the Indian EEZ. It compiles nearly four decades of oceanographic research and three decades of systematic surveys across India's 2.37 million square kilometre Exclusive Economic Zone, drawing on more than 400 oceanographic cruises since the early 1990s under the Marine Living Resources Programme (MLRP).
The release was attended by Dr M. Ravichandran, former Secretary, MoES; former CMLRE Directors Dr P. Madheswaran and Dr M. Sudhakar; Dr M.V. Ramana Murthy, Director of the Deep Ocean Mission; and Dr R.S. Maheskumar, Head of CMLRE.
The maritime zones, which everything else depends on
Before the science, the law — because this is where the examinable structure sits.
| Zone | Extent from baseline | Coastal state's rights |
|---|---|---|
| Territorial Sea | 12 nautical miles | Full sovereignty, subject to innocent passage |
| Contiguous Zone | 24 nautical miles | Enforcement of customs, fiscal, immigration and sanitary laws |
| Exclusive Economic Zone | 200 nautical miles | Sovereign rights over exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing natural resources |
| Continental Shelf | Up to 350 nm in defined cases | Rights over seabed and subsoil resources |
| High Seas | Beyond national jurisdiction | Open to all states |
The distinction to be precise about: in the territorial sea a state has sovereignty; in the EEZ it has sovereign rights over resources, not sovereignty over the water itself. Other states retain freedoms of navigation and overflight there. This comes from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), adopted in 1982, in force from 1994; India ratified it in 1995. India's own domestic statute is the Maritime Zones Act, 1976.
An EEZ of 2.37 million sq km is enormous relative to India's land area of about 3.29 million sq km — roughly 72 per cent as large. That is the resource base this report is about.
What the report found
The mesopelagic or "twilight" zone — 200 to 1,000 metres. Below the reach of useful sunlight and above the true deep, this layer holds dense communities of lanternfishes (myctophids), deep-sea shrimps and cephalopods. Its importance is not only as a fishery. The report details how the nightly vertical migration of these organisms — rising to feed near the surface after dark, descending before dawn — drives the ocean's biological carbon pump, transferring carbon from the surface into the deep ocean where it is stored away from the atmosphere.
That mechanism deserves a sentence of its own, because it is the kind of process question that rewards understanding rather than recall. Surface plankton fix carbon by photosynthesis. Migrating animals eat near the surface at night and excrete and respire at depth by day. The net effect is a biological conveyor moving carbon downward, and it is one of the largest natural carbon fluxes on the planet. A fishery that removed the mesopelagic layer at scale would not merely deplete a stock; it would weaken a climate-regulating mechanism. That tension — an underexploited resource that is also a carbon service — is the sharpest argument in this report.
Deep-sea demersal resources. On the continental slope beyond 200 metres, the report identifies substantial but currently underexploited stocks of deep-sea shrimps, perches, scombroids, flatfishes and eels. "Demersal" means living on or near the seabed, as against pelagic species of the open water column — a distinction worth carrying.
Distant-water fisheries. Data on high-value open-ocean species: tunas, billfishes, sharks, oceanic squids and Antarctic krill.
Biodiversity hotspots. The report documents ecologically vital regions serving as nurseries and habitats for vulnerable ecosystems — the areas where extraction and conservation come into direct conflict.
The ship, and why it matters
The findings rest on FORV Sagar Sampada — the Fishery and Oceanographic Research Vessel that has served as India's floating laboratory since the late 1980s. Its cruises have run across the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, Lakshadweep waters, the Andaman Sea, and into the Southern Ocean off Antarctica, carrying multidisciplinary teams to map species distributions, estimate abundance and record environmental data.
Keep the Indian ocean-research fleet straight, because the names get confused:
- FORV Sagar Sampada — fishery and oceanographic research, under MoES.
- ORV Sagar Kanya — oceanographic research vessel.
- Sagar Nidhi — the ice-class vessel used for deep-ocean and polar work.
- MATSYA-6000 — the crewed submersible of the Samudrayaan mission under the Deep Ocean Mission, designed to carry three people to 6,000 metres.
The Deep Ocean Mission, approved in 2021 under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, is the umbrella programme, and CMLRE — based at Kochi — is the institution that has done the living-resources half of the work for twenty-five years.
Why "blue economy" is more than a slogan here
The blue economy means the sustainable use of ocean resources for growth, livelihoods and ecosystem health. India's interest is concrete: fisheries support the livelihoods of millions, India is among the world's largest fish producers, and marine products are a significant export earner. The policy question this report addresses is where the next tonne of fish should come from.
The answer it implies is that coastal waters are near or beyond their limit while deep-sea and distant-water stocks are underexploited. Moving effort outward and downward relieves pressure on inshore stocks that small-scale fishers depend on. But it requires vessels, cold chains, and crews able to work far offshore — capital that traditional fishers do not have — which is why the deep-sea fishing question is also a question about who gets the licence. A complete answer names both halves: the resource exists, and the distributional design decides whether its exploitation helps or displaces the existing fishing community. Related economic reasoning on resource use and trade sits with our notes on international trade and the CDS/OTA economy hub.
🔑 Revision block
The event. 20 August 2026 — CMLRE, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, released the National Report on Deep-Sea and Distant-Water Fishery Resources of the Indian EEZ, marking CMLRE's Silver Jubilee.
The evidence base. Nearly four decades of research, three decades of systematic surveys, more than 400 oceanographic cruises since the early 1990s under the Marine Living Resources Programme (MLRP).
Maritime zones. Territorial sea 12 nm (full sovereignty) · contiguous zone 24 nm (customs, fiscal, immigration, sanitary enforcement) · EEZ 200 nm (sovereign rights over resources, not sovereignty) · continental shelf up to 350 nm in defined cases · high seas beyond. From UNCLOS, adopted 1982, in force 1994; India ratified 1995. Domestic law: Maritime Zones Act, 1976.
India's EEZ. About 2.37 million sq km — roughly 72% of India's land area.
The twilight zone. Mesopelagic, 200–1,000 m — lanternfishes (myctophids), deep-sea shrimps, cephalopods. Their nightly vertical migration drives the biological carbon pump, moving carbon from surface to deep ocean. Exploiting it at scale would weaken a climate-regulating service — the report's sharpest tension.
Demersal versus pelagic. Demersal = on or near the seabed. Pelagic = open water column. Underexploited demersal stocks beyond 200 m include deep-sea shrimps, perches, scombroids, flatfishes, eels.
Distant-water species. Tunas, billfishes, sharks, oceanic squids, Antarctic krill.
The fleet. FORV Sagar Sampada — fishery and oceanographic research vessel, the platform for this work; surveys across the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Lakshadweep, Andaman Sea and Southern Ocean. Also ORV Sagar Kanya, Sagar Nidhi, and MATSYA-6000, the Samudrayaan submersible rated to 6,000 m under the Deep Ocean Mission. CMLRE is based at Kochi.
Who released it. Dr M. Ravichandran (former Secretary, MoES), former CMLRE Directors Dr P. Madheswaran and Dr M. Sudhakar, Dr M.V. Ramana Murthy (Director, Deep Ocean Mission), Dr R.S. Maheskumar (Head, CMLRE).
The policy argument. Coastal waters are at or beyond their limit; deep-sea and distant-water stocks are underexploited. Moving effort outward needs vessels, cold chains and offshore crews — so the licensing design decides whether it helps or displaces small-scale fishers.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. Under UNCLOS, the Exclusive Economic Zone extends up to: (a) 200 nautical miles (b) 12 nautical miles (c) 24 nautical miles (d) 350 nautical miles → (a) — from the baseline.
Q2. India's EEZ covers approximately: (a) 2.37 million sq km (b) 3.29 million sq km (c) 1.2 million sq km (d) 5 million sq km → (a).
Q3. The mesopelagic or 'twilight' zone lies at a depth of: (a) 200–1,000 m (b) 0–200 m (c) 1,000–4,000 m (d) below 6,000 m → (a).
Q4. Lanternfishes, associated with the twilight zone, are also known as: (a) myctophids (b) scombroids (c) billfishes (d) cephalopods → (a).
Q5. The 'biological carbon pump' refers to: (a) transfer of carbon from surface waters to the deep ocean by organisms (b) industrial carbon capture at sea (c) carbon released by volcanic vents (d) photosynthesis by mangroves → (a) — driven partly by nightly vertical migration.
Q6. The research vessel central to India's marine living-resources surveys is: (a) FORV Sagar Sampada (b) INS Sagardhwani (c) Sagar Nidhi (d) ORV Sagar Kanya → (a).
Q7. CMLRE functions under which ministry? (a) Ministry of Earth Sciences (b) Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying (c) Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (d) Ministry of Science and Technology → (a) — it is headquartered at Kochi.
Q8. 'Demersal' species are those that live: (a) on or near the seabed (b) in the open water column (c) only in estuaries (d) in the intertidal zone → (a) — as against pelagic species.
Q9. MATSYA-6000 is associated with which mission? (a) Samudrayaan, under the Deep Ocean Mission (b) Gaganyaan (c) Sagarmala (d) Blue Revolution → (a) — designed to carry three people to 6,000 metres.
Q10. In the EEZ, a coastal state possesses: (a) sovereign rights over resources, not full sovereignty (b) full sovereignty over the water column (c) no rights beyond fishing (d) rights only over the seabed → (a).
Q11. UNCLOS came into force in: (a) 1994 (b) 1982 (c) 1976 (d) 1995 → (a) — adopted 1982; India ratified in 1995.
Q12. India's domestic legislation on maritime zones dates from: (a) 1976 (b) 1982 (c) 1994 (d) 2021 → (a) — the Maritime Zones Act, 1976.
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Ocean questions arrive in four dependable shapes. The maritime-zone item — matching a zone to its distance, where the classic error is swapping the contiguous zone (24 nm) with the territorial sea (12 nm). The UNCLOS item — year of adoption against year of entry into force, two dates that are frequently confused. The vessel-and-mission item — Sagar Sampada, Sagar Kanya, Sagar Nidhi and MATSYA-6000 matched to their programmes. The zone-of-the-ocean item — epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic by depth, asked as pure recall.
The fresh 2026 hook is this report itself: the 2.37 million sq km figure, the twilight zone and the biological carbon pump. The most likely single item pairs the EEZ distance with India's EEZ area in a statement-type question — both halves true. As always, this describes the recurring pattern, not any exact past question.
Preparing for CDS or OTA? Maritime topics pay twice, once in geography and once in international relations, because the same UNCLOS ladder underlies both. Build the base with our CDS/OTA geography notes, follow the daily CDS/OTA current affairs, and prepare with our faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Hitendra Deswal — Economy & international-affairs faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).
Source: PIB / Ministry of Earth Sciences, 20 August 2026. UNCLOS and mission details cross-verified with independent sources.