Bhubaneswar, Nov. 23: Marine fisheries in the state have reached a stage of stagnation and possible decline, suggest estimates by the Fisheries Survey of India.

Presenting the figures here today, Greenpeace urged the state government to implement the existing instruments towards achieving sustainability in the management of marine resources.

The current marine fisheries production in Orissa is about 80 per cent of the sustainability or threshold index identified. In 2000, the yield was 125.94 thousand tonnes, which fell to 122.21 thousand tonnes in 2004. Studies also reveal that some species — that were widely prevalent — have totally disappeared.

While some of these changes are specific to particular locations, there are a number of species that appear to have declined uniformly across the state.

“That the declining species are often from commercially imported categories indicates that over-fishing and poor enforcement rules of the Orissa Marine Fisheries Regulation Act are prime contributing factors,” said Greenpeace oceans campaigner Sanjiv Gopal.

The study further pointed out that the fish catch had steadily declined in the past decade.