Should That Fish Be on Your Plate? How Eating Seafood in Season Could Help India’s Oceans Recover

What’s for lunch today? Surmai, Pomfret or Prawns?

Scientists say the more important question might be: Is this the right time to have this fish?

Along India’s coasts, the answer could influence the future of the sea.

It is this question that sits at the heart ofKnow Your Fish (KYF), a voluntary initiative that encourages people to choose seafood based on its natural breeding cycles rather than year-round availability.

But can changing what’s on our plates really make a difference?

To find out, The Better India spoke with marine biologists Pooja Rathod and Mayuresh Gangal, who co-founded the initiative, along with marine scientist Dr Rohan Arthur, Mumbai fisherman Ganesh Nakhawa, and restaurateur Ilvika Chandavarkar. Together, they believe that while seasonal seafood is no silver bullet, it can be an important step towards protecting India’s marine ecosystems.

A calendar built around the sea

Unlike seafood advisories that simply list endangered species, Know Your Fish takes a more practical approach.

Designed for India’s west coast, its online calendar helps consumers identify which fish are breeding during different months and which species are best avoided during that time. “These recommendations incorporate information about breeding cycle, biological traits and vulnerability to overharvest”

Similar guidance for India’s east coast is currently being developed.

“Our intention isn’t to judge consumers or prescribe diets. It’s to give people enough information to make informed choices because consumers, too, are part of the seafood system”, Gangal tells The Better India.

For Rathod, the bigger goal is to reconnect people with the ocean by making marine science accessible to everyday consumers.

“Conservation is often removed from people’s daily lives. We wanted to reconnect people with the ocean through knowledge and make it a household conversation. When someone understands why a fish shouldn’t be eaten during a particular season, they’re in a better position to decide for themselves”.

“Each species is accompanied by information on its breeding cycle, biological traits, vulnerability and the months when reducing consumption could make the greatest difference,” she adds.

The founders are careful not to describe the calendar as a solution to every challenge facing India’s fisheries.

“What began as conversations eventually became a calendar,” says Gangal.

“It’s a tool that tells people which fish are better avoided during certain months so we can collectively reduce our impact on marine ecosystems.”

Instead, they see it as a starting point—one that brings fisheries science out of research papers and into everyday decisions.

That becomes especially important today because seafood is no longer eaten only where it is caught. Extensive cold-chain networks mean fish harvested in one region can appear in markets hundreds of kilometres away, making it easier than ever to buy species that may be in their breeding season elsewhere.

What do our traditions already know about the sea?

Long before sustainability became part of everyday conversations, many coastal communities were already eating with the seasons.

Take hilsa, for example. In many Bengali households, the prized fish traditionally disappears from the dining table after Saraswati Puja and returns only around the monsoon. Although improved transport and cold storage now make it available for much of the year, the custom has endured in many homes.

Were these traditions rooted in ecology rather than simply culture?

Gangal believes many of them were.

“People often ask us whether these are misconceptions. I don’t think that’s the right way to look at it. Many communities already have traditions around seasonal seafood, not just in Bengal but along the west coast. What we wanted to understand was whether those practices actually matched the biology of different fish species.”

The answer, he says, is mixed.

Some traditional practices closely mirror breeding cycles, while others do not. That is why the team compared local knowledge with decades of fisheries science instead of relying on assumptions alone.

More than seafood preferences

For Dr Rohan Arthur, senior scientist and founding trustee of the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), the conversation extends far beyond what appears on a dinner plate.

Seasonality, he says, is one of the oldest forms of ecological knowledge that coastal communities possess.

“I think local communities have always had built-in mechanisms to recognise seasonality. Between seasonality and locality lie two of the strongest principles of what ecological sustainability can look like.”

But those principles are becoming harder to follow.

Improved cold-chain logistics, expanding transport networks and year-round consumer demand mean seafood can now travel far beyond the coast. As a result, people have grown accustomed to finding their favourite fish regardless of the season.

“The market wants you to have hilsa whenever you want it,” Arthur says. “But there’s something valuable about maintaining seasonality because you’re eating what’s naturally available at that particular time.”

For Arthur, the seafood calendar puts one important decision back into consumers’ hands.

“Consumers are major drivers of market forces. This isn’t just about food security. It’s also about protecting the ecological integrity of fish populations.”

Can choosing seasonal seafood alone safeguard India’s fisheries?

“Not entirely,” he says.

Climate change is already reshaping the oceans. Rising sea temperatures and shifting ocean currents are altering marine ecosystems in ways scientists are still working to understand.

“The honest answer is that we don’t yet know exactly how every species will respond. What we do know is that climate uncertainty is increasing.”

For coastal fishing communities, that uncertainty is already a reality. Fish that once arrived predictably each season may now appear weeks earlier, much later, or in much smaller numbers.

That is why Arthur sees seasonal seafood as one piece of a much larger puzzle. Smarter consumer choices, he says, can help build more resilient fish populations—but they must go hand in hand with broader conservation efforts.

Can restaurants afford to say ‘No’?

Choosing seasonal seafood is relatively easy at home, where families can buy what’s available in the local market. Restaurants, however, face a different challenge. Diners often arrive expecting their favourite fish to be available all year, regardless of breeding cycles or seasonal abundance.

That raises an important question: can restaurants afford to take a popular dish off the menu for the sake of sustainability?

For Ilvika Chandavarkar, chef-restaurateur and co-founder of Malaka Spice in Pune, the answer is yes.

For years, the restaurant has displayed the Know Your Fish seasonal calendar alongside its menu, encouraging guests to think differently about the seafood they order.

“People walk into a restaurant looking for a particular fish because that’s what they’ve always eaten,” Chandavarkar tells The Better India. “But if it isn’t the season for that species, we don’t pretend otherwise.”

If kingfish is in its breeding season, the restaurant recommends another seasonal catch instead. In some cases, however, there simply isn’t an alternative.

“There are species that we don’t serve when it isn’t their season,” she says. “They’re removed from the menu altogether. It isn’t always the easiest decision because people sometimes come specifically looking for them.”

Shellfish can be even more challenging.

Unlike finfish, many shellfish varieties have few suitable substitutes. While frozen seafood is widely available through cold-chain networks, many diners still associate seafood with freshness.

“When someone wants squid or certain shellfish, there isn’t always another option you can offer,” Chandavarkar says. “That’s when education becomes important. We have to explain why we aren’t serving it instead of simply saying it isn’t available.”

Those conversations don’t always go smoothly.

“Some customers do get upset, though the numbers are low,” she says with a laugh. “But at the end of the day, it’s about being responsible. The easiest thing would be to keep serving everything. Instead, we’ve chosen not to put those species on the menu during their breeding season.”

Chandavarkar believes diners today are far more curious about where their food comes from than they were a few years ago.

“People ask more questions now. Sustainability, local sourcing and organic food are conversations that happen much more often than they did earlier. If you explain why a fish isn’t being served and suggest something that’s actually in season, people are much more willing to listen.”

The conversation extends beyond customers.

At Malaka Spice, the seasonal calendar is also part of staff training. Copies are displayed in the kitchen and workspaces so chefs and service staff understand breeding seasons before recommending dishes to guests.

“It’s on our menu for customers, but it’s also on our walls for the team,” Chandavarkar says.

“The sea doesn’t follow the calendar anymore”

When Mumbai fisherman Ganesh Nakhawa recently walked through a local fish market, one number stopped him in his tracks.

Surmai, or king mackerel, was selling for nearly Rs 2,700 a kilogram.

For someone who has spent decades at sea, the soaring price wasn’t simply about inflation or demand. It was another reminder that changing weather patterns are making fish catches increasingly unpredictable.

Nakhawa, a long-time advocate for fisheries along India’s west coast, has watched the rhythms of the sea change over the years.

“Talking about breeding seasons today isn’t as straightforward as it used to be,” he tells The Better India. “Climate change is altering many of those patterns, and we’re still trying to understand exactly what is changing.”

As part of the Know Your Fish initiative, the focus is on building a real-time record of what fishing communities are observing on the water, rather than relying only on historical breeding calendars. 

“If people find fish carrying eggs, we ask them to report it. Over time, those observations help us understand whether breeding seasons are shifting and whether fish are spawning at different times than they used to”, Nakhawa adds.

Those changes are already influencing policy.

For years, Maharashtra’s annual fishing ban ran from 1 June to 31 July. But changing rainfall patterns have prompted authorities to extend it until 15 August.

“We had actually proposed extending the ban to around 90 days,” Nakhawa says. “Instead, it has now been pushed until 15 August because the rains no longer arrive the way they used to.”

For generations, the southwest monsoon signalled the beginning of breeding and migration for several commercially important fish species. Today, those seasonal cues are becoming less predictable.

“We don’t see the kind of rains we used to get in June,” he says. “Sometimes the heavier rainfall comes later, and that affects both breeding cycles and migration.”

Species such as Bombay duck and prawns, once closely associated with the monsoon months, are no longer arriving in the same numbers or at the same time. Fishing communities that relied on these catches now find themselves waiting longer.

“Many families depended on those species during the monsoon. Now we often don’t get them during that period. To me, that’s one of the biggest climate challenges.”

But changing fish behaviour is only one part of the story.

When the fishing ban ends, mechanised trawlers, motorised boats and artisanal fishers all return to sea at almost the same time. The sudden surge in landings floods markets and pushes prices down.

“June and July used to be the months when small-scale fishers earned the best value for their catch,” Nakhawa explains. “Once everyone starts landing fish together after the ban, that advantage disappears.”

Fishing has always been an uncertain livelihood, he says, but the risks are growing.

Fuel prices continue to rise. Nets, ropes and other petroleum-based gear have become more expensive, with the cost of fishing nets alone increasing by around 14% over the past year. While some states provide financial assistance during fishing bans, support varies widely, leaving many communities vulnerable during months when they cannot fish.

For Nakhawa, conservation and livelihoods cannot be separated.

“These are all connected issues. You cannot separate conservation from livelihoods because, for us, they are part of the same story.”

Picture Source: Know Your Fish

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