In the year 1946 Government of India established a pilot project known as Deep Sea Fishing Station with the objective of augmenting food supply trough development of deep-sea fishing.
The project graduated to the status of a survey institute in the year 1974 and was named the Exploratory Fisheries Project. The Base Offices of the institute known as Offshore Fishing Stations were located in al the maritime states. Exploratory fishing, charting of fishing grounds, training of fishing operatives and testing commercial possibilities of deep-sea fishing were the programmes assigned to it.