AN OVERVIEW OF FISHING INDUSTRY IN KERALA

1987

Kerala, the southwestern part of the peninsular India, has a narrow stretch of land with a long surf-beaten coast on the western side and a lush green mountain range on the eastern side. The coastline is 590 km long, which is almost one-tenth of the Indian coastline. Marine fishing, using artisanal tackles like boat-seines, shore-seines and Chinese dip nets, is an age-old tradition of the state. Mechanisation was started in late fifties by the Indo-Norwegian Project, at first in the Quilon area. The early sixties too saw an important technological development, namely the shift from cotton to nylon nets. By mid-sixties, individual entrepreneures entered the scene, paving way for a fast development of trawl fishery in the coastal waters. Commercial purse-seining started during late seventies, and the process of large-scale motorisation of country crafts began in early eighties.

2015

Kerala with a coastline of 590 km is a significant contributor to the total marine fish landings of the country. A picture of the marine fisheries sector in Kerala during the years 2005 and 2010 is presented below (Table 1). With a continental shelf of about 40,000 km2 marine fisheries plays a vital role in the livelihood of the people.

2013

This paper investigates Kerala fishery sector and its impact on ecosystem, and socioeconomic impact of ban on fisheries on the fishing labour and their dependence on fishing as livelihood. The paper analyses the viability of various mechanized fishing units in the State of Kerala using different economic and financial indicators. The study aims to provide a background to fisheries in Kerala with focus on seafood export from the State using commodity, quantity, value and country wise data. The study also aims to map the flow of key export species from landing site to the port of dispatch in order to list the main factors that determines the seafood export chains in the state. The report ends with brief note on the degree of dependence of the poor within the fishing community on seafood industry and suggestions on improving the livelihood security of fish workers with resource conservation.

Journal of emerging technologies and innovative research, 2019

The fishing industry occupies an influential and unique place in Kerala economy. Kerala state, blessed with long coastline of around 590 kms is one of the most productive areas as far as fishing is concerned. Fisheries sector contribute nearly 3 percent of the economy of the State. It can be seen that the current level of annual marine fish production is about 6 lakhs tones/ year. More than a million people belonging to the fishing communities live in 222 fishing villages in the marine sector in the State. About two lakh people depend on ancillary professions like processing of prawn and fish and marketing of fish for a living in Kerala. The general living condition and economic status of the fisher folk in the State is considered not on a par with the living standards of the general population of the State. The fishery economy of Kerala had been traditionally conceptualised as a network of relationships in the realms of production, consumption and exchange (Kurien 1974). Traditiona...

2007

Fishing is the age old occupation which date back to prehistoric period. Fishing is a very well-known production in the coastal states of India with more than 16 million Indians earning a livelihood from fishing. The practice of fishing dates back to very many decades ago before modern methods and practices were birthed and fishing became a major recognized addition to the Indian economy. From many centuries, the country of India has had a cultural put into practice of fishing in little ponds. Without the mechanized and modern systems which are prominent today, fishing has stayed a tradition in India with more number of people engaging in this for personal use. With the passing of time and the coming of the nineteenth century, commendable improvements had been made in productivity with breeding carps in tanks and with controlled systems.

2014

Food, shelter and clothing are the basic necessities of the life and among them, food plays a pivotal role in the social and economic development of the country. Demographic pressures abating the arable lands as well as the declining factor productivity in major agriculture based cropping system leaves no options with the primary stakeholders than to f ind an alternative to traditional agricultural activity. Indian fisheries sector contributes to nutritional security, provides gainful employment and earns forex earnings. The sector produces 9.3 million tonnes of f ish to the food basket generating an economic value of 81,400 crores (0.82 percent) of the total GDP as per the current market prices of 2011. The forex earnings during 2011 in terms of quantity and value are 8.70 lakh tonnes and around 3.5 billion US$ crores respectively. Eventhough capture sector is on the rise with around 3.94 million tonnes, the sector is grappled with numerous policy bottlenecks in the value chain. Thus it becomes important to harvest alternative and non-traditional sources of f isheries. Aquaculture is the fastest growing food sector in the world and there is immense scope of improving it in terms of horizontal integrations by harnessing more and more area into aquaculture in addition to the numerous policy constraints and elements required for the sustainable development of the fisheries sector to feed the ever growing population.

The scientific advancements in fish husbandry and aquarium technology coupled with its potential in earning foreign exchange have facilitated the growth of marine aquarium fishery sector across the globe. Nearly 2 million people worldwide are engaged in marine aquarium keeping, either for recreation or as a means of livelihood. However, with rich ornamental fish reserves especially in the southeast and southwest coastal areas, India's share is insignificant to the global export in ornamental fishery sector. In Kerala, there are very few studies reported on the marine ornamental fish trade and hence this study throws light on the status of ornamental fishery trade in Kerala, including availability of resources, demand for this sector, problems and constraints in keeping marine aquarium and suggestions for improving this sector. The present study was conducted in three districts of Kerala viz. Kozhikode, Ernakulum and Thiruvananthapuram and two different sets of interview schedule...

International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies, 2022

2017

Tamil Nadu, with a coastline of 1076 km has 363 landing centres while the 45 km coastline of Puducherry has 26 landing centres in 2 fishing zones (Puducherry and Karaikkal). Fishing is done using different combinations of fishing crafts and gears.The recent trend of fish landings in Tamil Nadu showed a slight decrease in landings in 2016 (7.07 lakh t) compared to 2015 (7.09 lakh t). In spite of this, Tamil Nadu was ranked second among all maritime states contributing 19.5% of the total marine fish landings in the country during 2016. The landings of Puducherry were 0.45 lakh t in 2016 with a reduction of 33,958 t compared to 2015. The major contribution was from Karaikkal region (67%).