Livelihood Issues of Coastal Fisherfolk in Poonthura After the Intiation of Vizhinjam Project
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LIVELIHOOD ISSUES OF COASTAL FISHERFOLK IN POONTHURA AFTER THE INTIATION OF VIZHINJAM PROJECT MA SOCIOLOGY i Table of Contents CHAPTERS TITLE PAGE NUMBER I INTRODUCTION 1-10 II REVIEW OF LITERATURE 11-28 III METHODOLOGY 29-32 IV ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 33-64 V FINDINGS, CONCLUSION & 65-69 SUGESSTIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY 70-72 APPENDIX-I 73 INTERVIEW SCHEDULE ii List of figures Figure Title of figure Page number no: 1.1 Age Distribution 50 1.2 Educational status 51 1.3 Marital status 52 1.4 Working pattern 52 2.1 Challenges to fishing after the initiation of Vizhinjam sea 53 port 2.2 Severe Change in fishing Space 57 3.1 Income instability faced by fisherfolk 60 3.2 Fishing ban near to Vizhinjam sea port 60 3.3 Average monthly income 61 3.4 Loss of Income 62 4.1 Harbor Dependency 62 4.2 Problems in market 63 4.3 Major Issues in the Market 64 iii LIST OF TABLES TABLE NAME PAGE NUMBER NO: 2.1 Working pattern*Sea roughness 54 2.2 Working pattern*coastal erosion 55 2.3 Working pattern*fish depletion 56 2.4 Working pattern*loss of equipment 57 2.5 Variety of fishes 58 iv ABSTRACT Ports and shipping play vital role in the development of the country, however it possess numerous potential risk to marine ecology and the coastal life. .Vizhinjam is known for its large fishing harbour which can accommodate more than 100 fishing boats at a time. Fishermen are involved in fishing, auctioning, fish processing and marketing. Fishermen of Poonthura depend on the fishing harbour for their livelihood. Due to the ongoing dredging for the construction of Vizhinjam International sea port, south side of fishing harbour, there aroused uncertainties for the occupation in the harbour and this human activity threatens the lives of marine organisms as well as the livelihood of the fishermen. The finding of the study shows that the fishermen are struggling for livelihood after the initiation of Vizhinjam port. That human activity creates a big coastal erosion and sea roughness that make the coastal life vulnerable. This study tries to put a light into the impact of Vizhinjam international deep water multipurpose sea port on the lives of the fisher folk who depends on the harbour for their daily earnings. v CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Fishing has been a major source of food for humanity and a provider of employment and economic benefits to those engaged in this activity, from the ancient times (FAO, 1996). The fisheries sector of India is immensely contributing to the economy of the country. It contributes to the national income, exports, food and nutritional security and in employment generation. Among the 7 continents of the earth, Asia is the world’s largest continent with 4.2 billion people or constituting 60 % of the world's population. Within Asia, India is second most populous country in the world with 1.21 billion people or 17.5 % of the world's population (FAO, 2010). In India 65% of the people is still dependent on agriculture as their livelihood and employment source which includes fisheries as one of its components. Fisheries also serve as the valuable and cheap source of protein of the country. According to 2001 census India’s total population is 1,027,015,247of which 5959144 people are fishermen. In 2002, there were 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers all over the world. Of this total, 74 percent are engaged in capture fisheries and 26 percent in aquaculture. The world total fishery production of 133 million tones equated to an average productivity of 3.5 tons per person. By 2006, the number of world fishers increased to 43.5 million and the total fishery production was 143.6 million tonnes with an average productivity of 3.3 tonnes per person (FAO, 2011). (International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, 2016) Fishery is an important sector in most of the developed and developing countries of the world from the standpoint of income and employment generation. Fishing communities in India are not homogeneous, as they belong to different castes and have their distinct geographical, social, cultural, economic and traditional structures, depending on the coast, where they populate. According to the available estimates of the potential fishery resources of the west coast, particularly in south west coasts, Kerala possess the richest fishing grounds in the area. Kerala’s contribution to the national marine fish production is about 20% but the socioeconomic condition of the fisher folk in the state is deplorable, when compared to the general segment of population. Their livelihood patterns and such other reasons clearly show this. The reduction of fish assets is a major cause for the backwardness of fishermen. They are in 1 the clench of subsistence and also indebtedness in the regular aspect of their life. (Journal of Humanities and Social Science 2018) Fisheries sector play a major role in nutrition, employment, foreign exchange earnings and the socio- economic development of Kerala, Fishing is, first and foremost, a human activity that produces food and generates income and employment. It is a complex system that operates in an ecological context where constant interactions between biology, ecology, economics and sociology take place (FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper,2017). Kerala is known for her ravishing beauty and hospitality nature. The potential in the tourism segment has been emphasized over the years. Lakes, rivers, ponds and lagoons supplement this argument along with the food habits especially fish as major menu. While the tourism flourishes, what is happening to the community associated with the fisheries along the costal line of Kerala? Out of 6000 km sea coast of India, Kerala has a coastal line of 589.5 km, which is about 10% of India’s cost. Kerala is one of the active maritime states in India. With its coast line about 590 km, which is around 10% of India’s coastline. Kerala rank second in marine fish production of India, around 1.24 lakh MTs in the year 2010-11 and earned the income of 2002.10 crores. Around 1.85 lakh people are directly involving the marine fishing activity and 5, 00,000 people are doing fishing contributing 21% to the total annual production. It makes a significant contribution to the national income through export of marine products. Fishing community is one of the important segments of the state’s population, as per the population census 2011, the fisher folk population in Kerala is estimated at 10.02 lakh, covering 7.71 lakh in the coastal area and 2.31 lakh in the Inland sector. Constitutes 3.1 percent of the state total. They are spread out along the coastal belt in over 222 fishing villages in 9 coastal Districts. According to Food and Agricultural Organisation of United Nation about 38 million worldwide people are fisherman. A fisherman is basically a person who earns his livelihood by Catching and selling fish. The fisherman usually lives in an Area closer to a water body like a river, lake or canal. The life of a fisherman is very tiring and dangerous at the same time. The fisherfolk depend on allied activities like marketing/repairing nets, fish vending, processing and other fishery related activities, for their livelihoods. (Department of Fisheries) Fishermen mean the person who engaged mainly in fishing and related activities for their livelihood (Ambili C S,2008). They are very close to nature and element of great risk to life make him as superstitious 2 as he is generous and care free. The greatest asset of fishermen in Kerala is their accumulated Knowledge about the fish, fish habits, waves, currents and stars. They have a tradition of learning by doing, handed over from generation to generation. (John Kurien, 1981). Family background influences mental ability of children through pre-natal and post-natal care, intake of food, and the ability to go through a sustained educational process (Bhagawathi, 1973). in Kerala The fisheries economy has two sectors: traditional and mechanised. The traditional sector has two areas: the marine and the inland. At present the traditional fishing sector has only a limited surplus production of fish for market. The traditional fisheries sector has been a livelihood means for many over the years. They have vast knowledge of the ocean about winds and currents based on local area of their operation. The productive relation is concerned with relation of owners and workers in fishing operations Life in the coastal village revolves around the fishing seasons (ccs research internship papers 2004). According to Thomas Kocherry in the paper “suggestion for improvement of socio- economic status of traditional fisher folk”, the traditional fisher folk are all those men, women and children who earn a livelihood by involving in harvesting, handling, processing and marketing of fish and fish products. Therefore, traditional fishermen folk include Fisherfolk are concentrated in the southern and central parts of Kerala. They belong to the Latin Catholic community and are mostly converts from the Mukkuva caste groups. The Church is the main institution around which the social organisation and the community of the Christian fisherfolk is organised. The priest is the main leader who looks after not only the religious concerns, but also the socio- economic concerns of the community (Dietrich and Nayak, 2002).Catholic fishermen are very poor, but are adventurous, aggressive and creative It is often said that the Christian fisherfolk are the ‘real’ fisherfolk of Kerala (Hapke, 2001). Ram (1991), who has worked amongst the Mukkuva Christians of the south, traces the low status of the fisherfolk in the society to their geographical isolation and being concentrated in the coastal areas, in slum-like and crowded settlements.