SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS OF FISHERFOLK OF KANYAKUMARI AND

THOOTHUKUDI DISTRICTS, TAMIL NADU, INDIA

M.Nithya1 and N.V.Sujathkumar
1. Research Scholar, Department of Fisheries Extension
2. Professor, Department of Fisheries Information and Statistics
Fisheries College and Research Institute
Tamil Nadu Fisheries University
Thoothukudi -628008

Corresponding author email: nithya.fcri@gmail.com

Mobile: +919994665488
ABSTRACT
Fishing as an occupation is being practised in India since time
immemorial and has been regarded as a main enterprise of the fisherfolk
community. The fisheries sector, however, has a strategic role in food security,
international trade and employment generation. The study was conducted in
Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu. Among the fisherfolk, 41.68
per cent were middle aged and 51.67 per cent of them had a primary level of
education. The majority (93.33%) of the fisherfolk had more than 15 years of
experience in fishing. More that 50 per cent of the fisherfolk was used trawler as a
major fishing craft. Most of the fisherfolk (90%) had fishing as the only source of
income and 25 per cent of the fisherfolk had an annual income between Rs.1.50 and
2.00 lakh. The majority of the fisherfolk had a medium level of information source
exposure, extension system linkage,

innovativeness, economic motivation and

scientific orientation.
KEYWORDS
Socioeconomic status, innovativeness, economic motivation and scientific orientation
INTRODUCTION
The fisheries sector contributes to the national income, exports, food and
nutritional security and employment generation. It is a principal source of livelihood
for a large section of the economically underprivileged population of the country,
especially people living in the coastal areas. The marine fish production has still
been found as a capture fishery resource registering the highest production (40%)
from the northwest coast and the lowest (6%) from the northeast coast, with highest
landings being through mechanized craft (64%). Tamil Nadu is the southernmost

state in India, has a long and glorious tradition of marine fisheries activities. It has a
coastal length of 1076 km (13% of the countrys coastline), 0.19 million sq.km of EEZ
(9.4% of the Indias EEZ) and a continental shelf of about 41,412 sq.km. It is also
one of the leading states in marine fish production, third industrialized and the most
urbanized state in the country.

Ports, fishing harbours and a variety of coastal

industries like nuclear thermal power plants, refineries, fertilizer, marine chemicals,
etc., are situated all along the coast of Tamil Nadu. There are 1,175 Fisheries
Cooperative Societies functioning with a total membership of 4,88,844. Out of which,
512 societies with 3,22,006 marine fishermen and 296 societies with 93551 marine
fisherwomen populations. Thoothukudi district is situated in the southern part of
Tamil Nadu and it covers an area of 4621 square km. It has 21 coastal villages with a
coastal length of 163.50 km, accounting for 15.20% of the total coastal line of the
state. Kanyakumari district has the coastal length of 71.50 kms and also has a total
of 42 coastal fishing villages (State Fisheries Department).

METHODOLOGY
Among the 23 coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari
districts were selected for the study. A total of two fishing villages from each district
was selected for the collection of information from the fisherfolk. The coastal fishing
villages namely, Threspuram and Thoothukudi Fishing Harbour were selected from
Thoothukudi district and from Kanyakumari district, Kanyakumari and Colachel
fishing villages were selected based on the maximum number of fisherfolk
population. From these selected four fishing villages, a total of 120 respondents was
randomly selected proportionate to its size of the population. The data were collected
through a well-structured and pre-tested interview schedule with a personal enquiry.
The documentation works were done in the year 2015. The name of the fishing
villages, total number of fisherfolk population and the number of respondents
selected are presented in the Table 1.

Table No. 1.
SI.
No
.

Details of the name of the fishing villages and the number of

respondents selected for the study

Name of the
Districts
selected

Name of the fishing

villages selected

Total No. of
fisherfolk
population

No. of
respondents
selected

17,056

46

9,766

26

Colachel

9,947

27

Kanyakumari

7,770

21

Total

44,539

120

Thoothukudi Fishing
Harbour
1.

Thoothukudi
Threspuram

2.

Kanyakumari

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The data regarding the socioeconomic status of the fisherfolk are presented in
the Table 2. It could be seen from the Table 2 that a total of 41.68 per cent of the
respondents were middle aged followed by old (39.16%) and young (19.16%) aged
groups. Due to the nature of the fishing profession most of the fisherfolk were
entered into the fishing occupation from their adulthood and this may be the reason
for most of them were under the middle aged categories. About 51.67 per cent
fisherfolk had a primary school level of education and 17.50 per cent of them were
illiterates. Most of the members of fisherfolk family had entered into the fishing
occupation at the age of 16 or 17 and they could not have an opportunity to go to
secondary or collegiate level of education. This may be the reason for the low
educational status of fisherfolk. More than 90 per cent of the respondents had above
15 years of experience in fishing since the fisherfolk had entered into the fishing
occupation for their adulthood.
The majority of the respondents possessed Trawler (55.83%) and vallam
(47.50%) for fishing operation and fishing at a distance between 60 to 80 Nm. Due to
the depletion of fish stock in the near shore region most of them are venturing into
long distance for fishing. More than 60 per cent of the respondents were fishing more

than 15 hours in a trip. The finding was in agreement with the observations of Jeeva
et al. (2008), Mane and Sundaram (2011) and Shyam et al. (2014). More than half
of the respondents used trawling as a fishing method while 39.17 per cent of the
respondents used the long line as a fishing method. Gill netting was used by 20.83
per cent of the respondents.
Fishing was only the main source of income for more than 90 per cent of the
respondents and this may be due to their traditional occupation. About 25.00 per
cent of the respondents had an annual income between Rs. 1.50 and 2.00 lakh and
24.17 per cent of them had an annual income between Rs. 2.00 and 2.50 lakh. If the
catch is less, it would reflect in the income level of the fishing families. Among the
fisherfolk, 25 per cent of them spent between Rs. 2.00 and 2.50 lakh for various
household activities like food, cloth, education, etc. Ninety per cent of the
respondents had an annual saving of less than Rs. 15,000/- Due to increasing
household activities, the fisherfolk families have to spend more money towards
family maintenance, education, medical care, etc. In addition to this, the fisherfolk
had normally used to borrow money from professional money lenders with a high
rate of interest for various fishing and household related activities. Hence, they do
not have enough money for savings in the banks and cooperative societies.
Table 2. Socioeconomic status of the respondents

SI.No.

3.

Variables

Category

No.

Percentage

1.

Age

Young (upto 35)

Middle (between 36-45)
Old (above 45)

23
50
47

19.16
41.68
39.16

2.

Educational
Status

Illiterate
Functionally literate
Primary
Middle
Secondary
Collegiate

21
11
62
20
4
2

17.50
9.16
51.67
16.67
3.33
1.67

Fishing
Experience

Upto 10
Between 10-15
Above 15

2
6
112

1.67
5.00
93.33

4.

Type of Crafts

Vallam
Trawler
Others

57
67
2

47.50
55.83
1. 70

5.

Fishing Distance

20
> 20 40
> 40 60
> 60 80
> 80

10
29
24
33
24

8.33
24.17
20.00
27.50
20.00

6.

Duration of
fishing

5
> 5 10
> 10 15
> 15

2
12
26
80

1.67
10.00
21.66
66.67

7.

Fishing methods

Gill netting
Trawling
Long line
Others -Fibre boats

25
82
47
11

20.83
68.33
39.17
9.17

8.

Sources of
income

Fishing only
Fishing and business

108
12

90.00
10.00

9.

Annual income

50,000
>50,000 1,00,000
>1,00,0001,50,000
>1,50,0002,00,000
>2,00,0002,50,000
> 2,50,000

2
25
24
30
29
10

1.67
20.83
20.10
25.00
24.17
8.33

10.

Annual
expenditure

50,000
>50,000 1,00,000
>1,00,0001,50,000
>1,50,0002,00,000
>2,00,0002,50,000
> 2,50,000

3
26
25
28
30
8

2.50
21.67
20.83
23.33
25.00
6.67

11.

Annual saving

15,000
> 15,000 30,000
> 30,000 45,000

108
8
4

90.00
6.67
3.33

It is evident from the Table 3 that the majority of the fisherfolk (85.83%) had a
medium level of information source exposure. Most of the fisherfolk were listening to
radio, television and other information sources to know about fisheries and its related
information. Gowda et al. (2000) reported that most of the fisherfolk had listened to
radio and other information sources to know about information related to fisheries.
Three by fourth of the fisherfolk (78.33%) had a medium level of the extension
linkage system. This might be due to their low level of contact with fisheries
extension agents / organisations. Most of the fisherfolk (73.33%) had a medium level
of innovativeness. Jeeva et al. (2008), Cyrill et al. (2013) and Ganesan et al. (2013)
also observed same findings.
About 80 per cent of them had a medium level of economic motivation and
three-fourth of the fisherfolk (75.83%) had a medium level of scientific orientation in
fisheries. Shankar (2010) and Cyrill et al. (2013) also reported similar findings in their
study.
Table 3. Socioeconomic status of the respondents

SI.
No.

Variables

12

Information
source
exposure
Extension
linkage system

13

14

15

16

Category

Low (below 13.73)

Medium (13.74-15.31)
High (above 15.31)
Low (below 10.90)
Medium (10.91-12.50)
High (above 12.50)
Innovativeness Low (below 21.60)
Medium (21.61-28.70)
High (above 28.70)
Economic
Low (below 26.05)
motivation
Medium (26.06-31.31)
High (above 31.31)
Scientific
Low (below 25.95)
orientation
Medium (25.96-31.79)
High (above 31.79)

(Values in the parenthesis indicates score)

Percentage

10.00
85.83
4.17
0
78.33
21.67
3.33
73.33
23.34
13.33
80.00
6.67
14.17
75.83
10.00

Mean
score

Std.
Deviation

14.52

0.79

11.7

0.8

25.15

3.55

28.68

2.63

28.87

2.92

CONCLUSION
Fishing is the traditional occupation of the fisherfolk living all along the coast
of India and it contributes to the national income. The study shown that the majority
of the fisherfolk were middle and old aged. Many of the fisherfolk had a primary
school level of education and possessed trawler and vallam for fishing. More than
half of the respondents were using trawling as a fishing method. The fishing was only
the main source of income for almost all respondents. The annual income of the
fisherfolk was less and the income was spent in various household activities like
food, cloth, education, etc. The annual saving was also very meagre due to
increasing household activities. The information source exposure, extension linkage
system, innovativeness, economic motivation and scientific orientation of the
fisherfolk were found to be medium.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Authors would like to thank the Fisheries College and Research Institute,
Tamil Nadu Fisheries University for having provided the permission to undertake the
research.
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