Examination of the efficiency of mackerel fishing

Abstract

When various developmental measures are being undertaken to increase the fish production in India, it is pertinent to examine if the fishing methods employed are quite efficient. In marine fishing, the efficiency of fishing methods in general depends on the ability of the fishermen to locate the fishing grounds where the fish are abundant and to catch them there. In case of some of the pelagic fisheries like Indian mackerel, in the exploitation of which the fishermen rely on the arrival of the fish shoals in the inshore area, the fishing efficiency will depend on the ability and skill of the fishermen to identify the time and period when the mackerel shoals are most abundant in the inshore waters and to concentrate most of their effort at the time to catch the fish. The present paper provides a method for measuring quantitatively the fishing efficiency of the fishermen of the Karwar area with regard to the mackerel fishery. Though the results of the quantitative analysis will specifically relate to the efficiency of the Karwar fishermen, it is believed that the same will be applicable to the fishermen of the entire Mysore coast, if not the entire Indian coast.