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Ginger Prawn Fishery in Gulf of Kutch: A Seasonal Livelihood for the Traditional Fishermen

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Relation http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/9666/
 
Title Ginger Prawn Fishery in Gulf of Kutch: A Seasonal Livelihood
for the Traditional Fishermen
 
Creator Dash, Gyanaranjan
Dash, Swatipriyanka Sen
Koya, Mohammed
Sreenath, K R
Mojjada, Suresh Kumar
Bhint, H M
 
Subject Prawn and Prawn fisheries
 
Description Seasonal fishery of Metapenaeus kutchensis (ginger prawn) is a significant source of livelihood
for the socioeconomically backward part-time fishermen in the Gulf of Kutch region in India.
During the southwest monsoon, a temporary but highly productive estuarine condition is created
which provides nursery ground for various species of fish and shellfish in the little Rann of Kutch.
A large number of prawn postlarvae migrate into the region and provide a short time opportunity
to the fishermen for maximum exploitation of the fishery by the use of traditional gears like
‘Gunja’ and ‘Katar jaal’ and crafts like ‘Odie’. This traditional fishery is also known as
‘Pagadia fishery’ when fishermen do the entire fishing operation without the use of ‘Odie’. The
sampling study of three selected sites, viz., Surajbari, Madherkhi, and Tikar revealed an annual
turnover of around ` 200 million during a short fishing period of two months (August–
September). The fishermen involved in the fishery are part-time fishermen as they spend the
major part of their life as laborers in the salt pans and adjacent cement factories. The short-term
ginger prawn fishery renders them a huge economic opportunity and decides the monetary fate of
the family for the rest of the year. However, this irrational overfishing of the juveniles can lead to
a complete collapse of the fishery due to the decrease of spawning stock biomass. This can
severely disturb the livelihood opportunity of these fishermen and hence proper awareness among
the fishermen is presently required. Introduction of alternative livelihood options like cage and
pen culture techniques, product diversification, and value addition techniques as well as
establishment of proper marketing channel can improve the situation.
 
Date 2012
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/9666/1/Gyanranjan_Dash_ginger-prawn-fishery.pdf
Dash, Gyanaranjan and Dash, Swatipriyanka Sen and Koya, Mohammed and Sreenath, K R and Mojjada, Suresh Kumar and Bhint, H M (2012) Ginger Prawn Fishery in Gulf of Kutch: A Seasonal Livelihood for the Traditional Fishermen. Asian Agri-History, 16 (4). pp. 393-401.