In an effort to address the challenges of depleting fish stocks along the Kerala coast, researchers in the UK and India have joined together to support small fishing communities. Bindi Shah, Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Southampton, said Kerala coastal communities are experiencing a drop in marine fishing livelihoods due to the increasing frequency of extreme climatic events, plus human factors such as overfishing and catching juvenile fish, a lack of effective enforcement of fishing regulations, and the degradation of marine habitats resulting from coastal developmental activities.
The research team — led by the University of Southampton and Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Central Institute of Fisheries Technology and the Universities of Exeter and Newcastle — has developed a mobile phone app to help fishermen optimise their fishing days.
The app enables fishers to communicate easily. For instance, when a boat goes out in search of fish, the app allows users to share the GPS location of where fish is available, thereby saving other fishers in the group time and fuel. Fishermen are also encouraged to share photos via the app showing the condition of the sea and of their catch.
The research team will use this data to better understand the state of the ocean in that region, to support the development of policies for more sustainable fishing.
From a scientific perspective, the app has demonstrated its usefulness as a mechanism to collect real-time data from fishing locations which can be compared with historical fish catch data to understand the local impact of climate change and biodiversity loss and predict future fishing resource scenarios, Shah said. “Through discussions with fishers, we realised that they are also interested in other aspects, such as receiving weather updates and communicating with fellow fishers by sharing catch locations,” she said adding that such information can save fishers time and money spent on fuel, thereby contributing to stabilising incomes for small-scale fishers.
The app is still in the development phase and additional features need to be added which will require more dedicated funding. “We would like to release it for wider use by small-scale marine fishers across the coastal states,” Shah said.