MARINE FISHERMAN & POVERTY

Effect of Over Fishing, Marine Mining, Maritime Borders & Ocean

CENTRE FOR SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES

Introduction:
India is bounded in 3 sides by the waters in south by the Indian Ocean ,in the west by
the Arabian sea and in the east by the Bay of Bengal. With this Abaundant marine resource
around 4million people are directly dependent on oceans for their livelihood.The marine
fishermen in India, in general, are socially and economically backward almost 61% of them
are living under below poverty line, with the average monthly income of Rs4,500 to Rs10,500
which is making their lifes more worst. In India there are 3228 marine fishing villages and
1511 marine fish landing centres in 9 marine states and two union territories. Total fisherfolk
population was about 4million comprising in 8,64,550 families.For all these people fishing is
the only source of income, but from the years their economic status is not improving and
poverty is not declining in their families and the fish catch is reducing due to the over
exploitation of fisheries and the expenditure is also increasing for the fish catch along with
these because of the maritime borders India having with the neighbour states fisherman are
facing lot of legal problems all of these factors are drastically impacting the livelihood of the
fisherman community in India. Where as government schemes are fullfilling just their
immediate needs but not boosting their economic conditions.
Factors that are affecting the daily income and Livelihood of the fisherman:
For centuries humans has seen the sea as an infinite source of food and a boundless sink
for pollutants and a tireless sustainer of coastal habitats , There are lot of reasons which are
effecting the income and livelihood of the Indian fisher man main things among them are over
fishing(Venkatesh, 2006), marine mining , maritime borders , ocean pollution with human
waste dumping , plastic and industrial chemical dumping.
Over fishing:
In the developing countries like India one in five depends on the fish as the main source
for protein (Varghese, 2000)and there is lot of demand for fish in the market. There are the
different types of boats used by the fisherman like country boats ,motorized boats and
mechanized boats(Demographic History of South Asia .Pdf, n.d.), where as the most of the
fisherman uses the country and motorized boats and the corporate fishing companies uses the
mechanized boats with the more technological advantages where the catch of fisherman will
be very less and on the other hand due to mechanized boats the over fishing is done. Ocean
overfishing simply means catching fish from sea at rates too high where fish stocks become
too depleted to recover, Overfishing occurs when more fish are caught than the population can
replace through natural reproduction. Gathering as many fish as possible may seem like a
profitable practice, but overfishing has serious consequences. The results not only affect the
balance of life in the oceans, but also the social and economic well-being of the coastal
communities who depend on fish for their way of life.”
Because fishing has long been an industry used by humans, there are a number of reasons.
Some of the causes of overfishing are Difficulties in regulating fishing areas due to lack of
resources and tracking activity(Venkatesh, 2006).
  Most areas in the world have a total lack of oversight related to their fishing industry,
which means the practices and activities of fishing fleets are not or barely monitored.
 In international waters, there are little to no rules regarding fishing practices, which
means fishing fleets can bypass areas that do have regulations.
 Lack of knowledge regarding fish populations and quotas in a universal standard.
 Problems with customs and importation where the provenance of fish is not questioned,
leading to surreptitious practices such as calling one kind of fish something else.
 Unreported fishing, which is nearly impossible to track.
 Many countries have subsidies for fisherman which keeps their number higher than it
needs to be.
 Fishing areas are largely unprotected – only a little over 1.5% of oceans have been
declared protective areas, and most of these are still open to fishermen. This means that
areas can be harmed or depleted.
Effects of Overfishing:
Current estimates are that overfishing has impacted over 85% of the world’s fish
resources, and that most fisheries are fished far beyond their sustainable capacity. While this
is poised to have long-term effects on human consumption, there are also a number of other
effects(Oliver & Oliver, 2018),
 Removal of essential predators: Sharks and tuna are particularly susceptible to
overfishing, and when they are removed from the areas they live in, this means that sea
creatures further down the food chain are negatively impacted. Populations can grow
larger, and the role that these larger creatures play – from what they eat to how their
bodies decompose – mean potentially fatal effects for ocean ecosystems.
 Poor coral reef health: With a larger amount of smaller marine creatures comes greater
damage to coral reefs and other elements of the ocean’s ecosystem. Reefs are essential
to ocean life, and once they are harmed, it is hard to repair the damage, if at all.
 Growth of algae: In controlled amounts, algae is essential to helping marine life thrive,
but if it is allowed to grow at will, it can impact fish, reefs, and more, leading to serious
destruction.
 Unintended catches: Another concern of overfishing is that because the industry is so
large, there are a number of sea creatures who get caught in the process, but don’t get
used for food. This can mean everything from dolphins to turtles can be impacted by
the presence of fishing fleets.
 Threat to local food sources: There are a number of communities around the world that
rely on fish as their primary resource for food. The growth of overfishing has caused
serious threat to these communities, which are often located in developing countries.
Without the ability to catch their food, their populations are threatened.
 Financial losses: A lot of these communities that rely on fish for food also rely on low-
level fishing industries for economic viability. These enterprises, as opposed to large-
scale fishing ones, typically do far less damage to their marine life because they are on
a much smaller scale. However, when these communities can’t access food or their
financial support, they are likely to have trouble in the future.Obviously, another huge
concern with overfishing is the damage it does to parts of the Earth that rely on healthy
marine life. The problem is unfortunately so widespread that effects can be felt in every
part of the world
Marine mining:
Coastal lines are rich in variety kind of minerals ,oil, gas, sand and coral reefs in the
modern days the demand for scarce resources is increasing(Subramanian, n.d.) and the over
mining of coastal lines for these resources is severely affecting the biodiversity of the oceans ,
this biodiversity of coastal lines affects the growth and survival of marine life, marine
plantation and on fisherman community which lives near to coast . The world’s beaches are
being mined for sand for a variety of uses .The practice is often very destructive. This theft of
beach and dune sand is a direct cause of erosion along many shorelines. It is very damaging to
the beach fauna and flora, ruinous to beach aesthetics, and frequently causes environmental
damage to other coastal ecosystems associated with the beach such as wetlands. Another major
impact of beach sand mining is the loss of protection from storms surges associated with
tropical cyclones and tsunamis. Some communities affected by the 2004 tsunami in the Indian
Ocean had higher storm surges probably due to beach sand mining resulting in disasters
Coral reef mining is the another affecting factor, lot of studies shows that coral reefs
are extensively mined for the construction and decoration purpose ,by studying the mined areas
and by observing the mined sites lot of studies stated that coral reefs are overmined and that
will take minimum 50 years to again regrow in some areas and in some areas regrowth is not
possible, this will affect the marine life survival which depends on the coral reefs and if the
certain controlling measures are not taken by the governments then there is a severe threat of
total extinction of coral reefs which affects the biodiversity of the oceans
Oil and gas mining in the oceans also affects the mobility and migration of the marine
life and the installation of equipment leads to the destruction of local marine plants and life.
All these practices leads to the reduction of the marine species due to the change in the
environment which effects the fish catch of the fisherman that leads to the reduction of
fisherman income(Varghese, 2000).
Maritime Borders :
India is having maritime borders with the Sri lanka and Pakisthan which defines the
ocean borders with both countries but there are lot of issues with these maritime borders with
both Srilanka and pakisthan. Kachchativu issue, not exactly defined maritime borders with
srilanka and pakisthan. Where as fisherman’s only livelihood is fishing ,in the search of fish
sometimes Indian fisherman crosses the maritime borders and enters in to the waters of srilanka
and pakisthan , the reduction in fish catch in the homeland makes them to cross homeland
waters and sometimes its difficult to find out the borders in waters so by mistake they cross the
borders. Then the other country governments are arresting these fisherman and putting them
under trail. Again releasing them and brining them back to the homeland is a very big process
which takes months to years to the government, this effects the income source of the fisherman
families that leads to the increment of poverty where fishing is the only source of income and
entire family is depended on the arrested fisherman, which creates a lot of financial problems
in the family which increases the poverty of the family. Till date hundreds of fisherman from
india are in the jails of srilanka and pakisthan, where as their families in india are waiting for
them for years and struggling to find income source ,suffering with severe poverty.
Ocean pollution:
Pollution is the another major problem which is effecting the marine life,Over the last
few decades surplus human activities have severely affected marine life ,marine pollution is
the spreading of harmful substances such as oil, plastic, industrial and agricultural waste and
chemical particles into the ocean. Since oceans provide the home to wide variety of marine
animals and plants
Mining for materials such as copper and gold is a major source of contamination in the
ocean. For example, copper is a major source of pollutant in the ocean and can interfere with
the life cycles of numerous marine organisms and life. Many ocean pollutants are released into
the environment far upstream from coastlines. Nitrogen-rich fertilizers applied by farmers
inland, for example, end up in local streams, rivers, and groundwater and are eventually
deposited in estuaries, bays, and deltas. These excess nutrients can spawn massive blooms of
algae that rob the water of oxygen, leaving areas where little or no marine life can exist.
There are various ways in which pollution enters the ocean. Some of them are:
1. Sewage
Pollution can enter the ocean directly. Sewage or polluting substances flow through
sewage, rivers, or drainages directly into the ocean. This is often how minerals and substances
from mining camps find their way into the ocean. One average-sized cruise ship dumps about
30,000 gallons of human waste into the oceans each day. If that cruise ship is within three miles
of a shoreline, the sewage must be treated, but if they are outside of three miles, they can dump
raw, untreated sewage into the oceans. In addition to the 30,000 gallons of sewage, each cruise
ship dumps, on average, 2,55,000 gallons of gray water per day. Gray water includes water
used for showers, laundry services, and dishwashing, and will contain soap and chemicals, even
toxic chemicals used for photo-processing and dry-cleaning,An average cruise ship will
produce seven tons of garbage and solid waste every day! In a year, approximately 15 billion
pounds of garbage is dumped into the oceans.The pollution produced by the emissions of one
cruise ship in one day equals that of about 12,000 automobiles.
2. Toxic Chemicals From Industries
Industrial and agricultural waste is another most common form of wastes that are
directly discharged into the oceans, resulting in ocean pollution. The dumping of toxic liquids
in the ocean directly affects the marine life as they are considered hazardous and secondly, they
raise the temperature of the ocean, known as thermal pollution, as the temperature of these
liquids is quite high. Animals and plants that cannot survive at higher temperatures eventually
perish.
3. Large Scale Oil Spills
Ship pollution is a huge source of ocean pollution, the most devastating effect of which
is oil spills. Crude oil lasts for years in the sea and is extremely toxic to marine life, often
suffocating marine animals to death once it entraps them. Crude oil is also extremely difficult
to clean up, unfortunately meaning that when it is split; it is usually there to stay.
.4. Plastic
Pollution from the atmosphere is, believe it or not, a huge source of ocean pollution.
This occurs when objects that are far inland are blown by the wind over long distances and end
up in the ocean. These objects can be anything from natural things like dust and sand to man-
made objects such as debris and trash. Most debris, especially plastic debris, cannot decompose
and remains suspended in the ocean’s current for years. Animals can become snagged on the
plastic or mistake it for food, slowly killing them over a long period of time. Animals who are
most often the victims of plastic debris include turtles, dolphins, fish, sharks, crabs, sea birds,
and crocodiles. In addition, the temperature of the ocean is highly affected by carbon dioxide
and climate changes, which impacts primarily the ecosystems and fish communities that live
in the ocean. In particular, the rising levels of Co2 acidify the ocean in the form of acid rain.
5. Rented Boats
Around the 80% of the fisherman don’t have the own boats so they rent their boats for
fishing daily, Boat owners obtain bigger shares of the catch; this provides them with some
buffer during lean periods. The boats themselves are assets that insure them against future
emergencies. Fishing crew have no such security. They obtain a share of the catch when they
manage to go fishing and land a catch, both of which are events beyond their control. For many
stakeholders, current levels of wages or earnings from fishing and trade leave very little surplus
beyond their subsistence needs. Even households that generate some surplus use it up quickly
during lean periods or spend it on repairs to boats and houses or for other functions. When the
surplus is spent, or when the fishing season itself is disappointing – an increasingly common
occurrence – fishers have recourse to credit at high rates of interest by pledging their future
fish catch. Many are forced to diversify, move out temporarily or sell assets. In the worst cases,
they simply starve.Fishers get trapped in an endless and hopeless cycle of debt as their
borrowing progressively overwhelms their capacity to repay. Up to 90 percent of households
in a typical fishing village remain in debt for a good part of the year. While poverty has always
defined most fishing-based livelihoods, it is now compounded by vulnerability.As fishers face
increasing days of poor catches or no fishing opportunities at all, many fishing households
report an increase in the number of days that they go hungry(Venkatesh, 2006).
Conclusion:
With this we understand that 61% of indian fisherman families are living under below
poverty line,struggling to fulfil their daily needs and with huge debts and how the different
reasons effecting their daily income and livelihood. So it’s the responsibility of the government
and authorities to improve their lifestyle by improving their income sources and by providing
good education to their children at lower costs so they can take up other profession for their
income, government should distribute the ships and the fishing equipment to fisherman which
will reduce the huge burden on them, authorities should follow the efficient mechanisms to
reduce the factors which are causing the over fishing, illegal fishing ,mining , pollution in the
oceans. This will improve the biodiversity of the coasts and fish catch of the fisherman, if fish
catch increases their income also increases. India should maintain good maritime relations with
neighbouring coastal states which will avoid the arrest of Indian fisherman when they cross
maritime borders, by this I will conclude that by improving governance over oceans and by
following special welfare schemes to boost the economic condition of the fisherman we can
bring them out of poverty, simple temporary pain relief schemes by government won’t reduce
their poverty but it drastically reduces their living standards.
References:
Demographic History of South Asia .Pdf. (n.d.).
Oliver, C. D., & Oliver, F. A. (2018). Managing Biodiversity.
Global Resources and the Environment, (62), 251–262.
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Subramanian, B. A. (n.d.). This book under review focuses on
recovering the politics of the Mukkuvar.
Varghese, M. (2000). Marine Research and Management
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Venkatesh, S. (2006). Trends in poverty and livelihoods in
coastal fishing communities of Orissa State , India. FAO
Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 490. Rome, FAO. 2006.
Brown, B., & Dunne, R. (1988). The Environmental Impact of
Coral Mining on Coral Reefs in the Maldives. Environmental
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THE (IN) SECURITY OF FISHERMEN IN scum ASIA
www.coastalcare.com
www.mhrd.gov.in