Livelihood Security in small Reservoirs – Case study of Aliyar (Tamil Nadu)

Abstract

Reservoirs play an important role in the nutritional and livelihood security of fisher folk who belong to to weaker sections of the society. In India, there are 19,134 small reservoirs covering a water spread area of 14,85,557 ha. The present study is about ten gillnet fishing units operating in Aliyar dam, a small reservoir situated in Tamil Nadu. The common fishes stocked in this reservoir are Indian major carps viz., catla (Catla catla), rohu (Labeo rohita) and mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala). Fishing was the mainstay of the stakeholders surveyed at Aliyar and their livelihood was entirely dependent on it. At Aliyar reservoir, fishing rights were given annually to these fishing units. Currently the average investment made towards each fishing unit ranged from Rs.0.55 to Rs.2 lakhs. The fishing tools used in the reservoirs were coracles (bamboo and FRP) and nylon monofilament gillnets of various mesh sizes ranging from 100 to 300 mm. The average fish catch was 10 to 20 kg per fishing unit per day. The marketing of the fish catch was done through Tamil Nadu Fisheries Development Corporation (TNFDC) and the fishermen got 60% of the share price obtained as income from fish sales. The average monthly income of fishermen varied from Rs.600 to Rs.1200. In this paper, institutional arrangements for the Aliyar reservoir fishing activities, socio-economic status of fishers, economics of operation of fishing units and income equality criteria of fisheries are discussed. Finally, overall livelihood security index of fishers was worked as 37.3% includes based on food, educational, health and economic security of the fisher folk which was 53.7, 29.0, 36.1 and 30.5% respectively. Household livelihood security indices were used to assess the socio-economic conditions of fishers.