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Inter-sectoral Disparity and Marginalization in Marine Fisheries in India

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Relation http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/587/
 
Title Inter-sectoral Disparity and Marginalization in
Marine Fisheries in India
 
Creator Sathiadhas, R
 
Subject Socio Economics and Extension
Marine Fisheries
 
Description Fisheries policy in the eleventh plan aims at sustainable economic growth, with due
concerns on food and nutritional security and supply side responses. The plan accords overarching
priorities on bridging the sharpening divides and increasing disparities in all sectors. The socio-
economic framework of the fishing community with structural changes in coastal sector needs
successful design and implementation of development programs. This article highlights the sectoral
growth of fishing units and their capital investment over the years, change in ownership pattern
of means of production, earnings, sectoral disparity, and inequity among marine fisher folk in
India. Base material for the analysis includes primary data collected from selected centers of
maritime states in India and secondary data on marine fisheries census of CMFRI and other
relevant publications.
There has been sizeable growth of 70% in the mechanized fishing units and about 200%
growth in motorized sector that are technically efficient (over the last 12 years until 2005).
However, there has been a downtrend of 43% in the nonmechanized units (traditional sector)
denoting a gradual phasing out of less efficient units. The improved socio-economic status of
fishers is reflected by increase in literacy level, reduction in dropouts, and improvement in housing
type. The proportion of owner operators in marine fisheries declined over the years with the
increasing capital requirement for possessing motorized and mechanized fishing units. The
fishermen involved in active fishing is more than the absorbing capacity of the fisheries sector
leading to disguised unemployment and has led to lower per capita production, increased pressure
on fishing, which results in juvenile catch, large level discards, and thus ultimately causing
serious threats to resource sustainability and environmental stability. The nonmechanized sector
is providing about 33% of the employment in active fishing, yet harvesting hardly 7% of the
annual landings, whereas mechanized segment that employs 34% harvests 70% of total catch
creating wide inter-sectoral income disparity. The annual per capita catch of fisher folk in
mechanized segment is more than twice as those of the per capita catch of the motorized segment
and nine times of the per capita catch of the nonmechanized (traditional sector) segment clearly
signifying growing inter-sectoral disparity in distribution of economic gains. Average annual per
capita earnings of fishing laborer range from Rs.13,200 for a motorized dingi with bagnet to Rs. 1,27,200 for a mechanized purse seiner. Significant variation is also observed even within
groups of crafts namely trawlers, gillnetters, purseseiners, motorized, and traditional crafts. The
analysis indicate that there is high incidence of poverty in the coastal rural sector explicitly
revealing that majority of these people still could not get much of the benefits of the economic
development taken place in our country.
 
Publisher AFS Society
 
Date 2009
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/587/1/AFS_Dr.Sathiadhas_paper4.pdf
Sathiadhas, R (2009) Inter-sectoral Disparity and Marginalization in Marine Fisheries in India. Asian Fisheries Science, 22 (2). pp. 773-786.