The drop in sardine catch, as stated in the CMFRI annual report, will result in huge socio-economic crisis for the fishermen community in the state. As marine resources are depleting, the traditional fishermen are facing threat to their livelihood, and with the dwindling catch of oil sardine, their hopes for the months to come are bleak. The traditional fishermen community stated that the drop in sardine catch would result in a huge socio-economic crisis for the community and has requested the CMFRI to intervene in the matter. “The traditional fishing community has been greatly affected by the decline in catch. Nearly 80% of all fish are landed by trawl and ring seines,” said state president of the Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedi, Charles George. “Earlier we used to catch fishes like rays (therendi) and ribbon fish (pambaada) but these days our catch is mostly limited to sardine. Even mackerel is fished by trawlers from deeper waters. Such a steep decline of sardine is a matter of crisis for us,” he said. George along with fellow fishermen urged the CMFRI to include these facts in their report to state government and request some sort of policy to be introduced so that they do not lose their livelihood. According to scientists at the CMFRI, traditional fishermen and fishermen using motorized vessels and equipment are faced with a serious problem with the decrease in fish landings. “Marine resources are dwindling all over India’s coasts due to a multitude of factors including climate change, changes in spawning and so on,” said head of the fishery resource assessment division, T V Sathianandan. “Fishermen who work on trawlers and ring seines fishing, are able to land catches as they can travel further out of sea and their machinery enables them to fish in larger areas and go deeper than traditional fishermen and fishermen using motorized vessels,” he said. Previously, mechanized fishermen preferred fishes that fetch a higher value in the market, while other species like mackerel, ribbon fish and so on were left for traditional fishermen. But with a dearth of resources, trawlers have been fishing for whatever they could find, said the official.
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