Economic effects of climate change on fisheries in India

Abstract

Last year, 2004, the world grew at a `scorching rate' of 5 per cent, steel production crossed the billion-tonne mark, and global grain harvest rose by 8 per cent to over 2 billion tonnes. But the year was the fourth warmest year ever recorded, even as 852 million went hungry each day - a number equal to the combined populations of North America, Japan and Europe. On fish, an alarming fact that marine scientists estimated in 2004 was: "That industrial fleets have fished out at least 90 per cent of all large ocean predators — tuna, marlin, swordfish, sharks, cod, halibut, skates, and flounder — in just the past 50 years." (World Watch Institute, 2005). With growing concerns of global warming and acceptance of climatic changes on various sectors including fisheries, voices of concern are being heard in various parts of the world including India, on the need for making, among other things, an objective assessment of the economic effects of climatic changes on fisheries in the country. Fisheries sector in India plays a very important role. It is the provider of food fish for the millions as well as source of employment and income for fishing communities living along the coastal districts of the country. Lately it has also gained importance by being a major source of export earnings.