FISHERIES SECTOR OF KERALA-A STUDY

Introduction

The fisheries sector of Kerala had been incorporated to the world markets around early sixties due to the increased demand for processed seafood. This integration, an outcome of a technological revolution in the harvesting, processing and marketing spheres in the rural economy, provided ample opportunities and challenges to the millions of domestic producers, exporters and the government alike (Platteau, 1992). The increase in the volume of marine fish landed by various producers, the increase in the quantities of seafood processed and exported, the volume of foreign exchange earned through exports, the economic opportunities generated through ancillary industrialisation and the volume of employment generated by these activities are pointed out as the positive benefits of market integration. It is noted, however, that these economic benefits have accrued only to a few fishermen while majority of the artisanal fisher folk are still at the mercy of nature and world markets. Development initiatives in this sector extending over four decades have led to over capitalisation in the harvesting and processing activities. Large numbers of fisher women are displaced from their traditional occupations. Degradation of various fisheries and the conflicts over the allocation of property rights among artisanal, modern and the deep-sea fishing fleets have also been reported. Kerala fishermen also demanded the eviction of all fleets belonging to other states from their territorial waters, as, such operations are found to be harmful to the interests of domestic producers and fish workers. Careful management of the dynamics of fisheries development hence becomes imperative for ensuring sustainable and equitable distribution of economic benefits to various stakeholders from fishing and fish marketing.

Good Governance and Database

Market is largely responsible for disorders in the domestic economy. However, many people believe that good governance is the responsibility of the state. Unfortunately, most nation states in developing world are not rich enough to manage the degradation of natural resources and environment assets. However, many natural resource economists now believe that the state should initiate a partnership of governance and lead /guide this process of governance that ensures sustainable use of resources (Kurien, 1998;Berkes, et.al, 2001). Good governance of the fisheries sector demands a variety of information about the resources, their habitats, the markets, producers, consumers, traders, the quality of products produced, processed, etc. and the lack of such information restricts the authority's management capabilities.

This paper examines the present nature of the database on the Kerala's fishery economy and evaluates its ability to provide an understanding of the issues of fisheries governance. It also identifies the gaps and suggests some guidelines for the improvement of this database. The paper is divided into three sections. Section 1 provides a simple model of the Kerala's fishery economy in relation with the world markets. Section 2 discusses the nature of the existing database and points out the major limitations for forward planning and management. Section 3 deals with some suggestions for improvement.
Fishery: An Evolving System

The fishery economy of Kerala had been traditionally conceptualised as a network of relationships in the realms of production, consumption and exchange (Kurien, 1974). Production and exchange relations in this rudimentary economy are influenced by the growth in both internal and external consumption. The consumers and producers are self-seeking utility/profit maximizers and the state is responsible for regulating these relationships. This famous neo-classical economic modeling of the fisheries economy of Kerala demands the collection of data on some crucial variables of these relationships to introduce the strings of control and forward planning. This conceptualisation demanded data collection of some major indicators on production; prices and fish consumption and the task of data collection were entrusted to the Department of Fisheries.


Until early sixties, the fishery economy of Kerala was largely influenced by forces of internal demand mainly from the rural and nearby urban markets due to the non-availability of a reliable modern processing technology. The Blue Revolution technologies have revolutionised these relationships and started influencing internal relations in many significant ways. Ever since, the external relations became crucial for the domestic producers, traders and consumers.

The opening up of village economies to the world markets has significant bearing on the domestic ecosystems too. They are now being exploited intensively than before and information is needed to document the nature of such production and exchange activities. As these ecosystems are still used by domestic producers and traders as a source of livelihood, information is also required on the nature of sustainability of these systems. The limits and capabilities of these ecosystems to sustain economic activities also became crucial. Ideally, the data generating agencies are expected to collect data on such variables. We shall argue below that the data generating machinery of the Kerala government is not structured to undertake such a challenging task. Its flexibility is limited and most often fails to establish the necessary partnerships with other stakeholders for introducing cost effective data gathering and management strategies.


Database on Kerala Fishery

The existing database relevant for the fisheries economy of Kerala has been generated by five sources: the State Fisheries Department, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), the Fisheries Survey of India (FSI), the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) and NGOs.

Department of Fisheries

The Department of Fisheries was responsible for the collection and dissemination of fisheries data. The task of data collection was organised through the fishery officers located in the district offices of the Department. These were tabulated at Trivandrum and supplied to planners on request. Since the process of data collection, tabulation and dissemination is expensive; the department has limited its liability to the collection of a few critical variables. Department collects and publishes data on the activities of both capture and culture fisheries. The following chart shows the nature of capture fisheries statistics collected by the Department.

Against criticisms on the reliability and coverage of these data, the task of estimating marine fish landings was later handed over to the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute. The Department of Fisheries still collects and publishes data on inland fish landings. Despite criticisms raised by fishery scientists about the modes of data collection and reliability of the published data, the Department still continues this data collection as a routine exercise.




Price and Consumption Data

The price data by the department of Economics and Statistics and the data on fish consumption were collected by the National Sample Survey (NSS) as part of various rounds of expenditure surveys. The State Planning Board uses these sets of data for planning purposes.

Culture Fisheries

In the case of culture fisheries, the Fisheries Department collects information through its District Fishery Offices and sometimes through institutions viz. the Agency for the Development of Aquaculture (ADAK), the Brackish Water Fish Farmers' Development Agency (BFFDA) and the Fish Farmers Development Agency (FFDA)) exclusively promoted for the development of such activities. The following chart shows the nature of data available





A critical examination of the database reveals that the information provided by these sources are not enough to understand the crucial issues faced by the sector. For instance, we still have to know, the distribution of various culture systems by area, size and the level of input applications and volume of output levels of these different systems. Similarly, information on the nature of trade practices, credit relations and involvements of intermediaries and merchants are inadequate. The data relating to the indigenous ornamental fisheries and the millions of disorganised rural producers is absent. There exists no mechanism within the Fisheries Department to collate this information and learn from these sources.

By institutionalising such a process of data collection at the Department level, the Government was, in fact, limiting its liability of governance to the commercially viable activities of the sector. Reduction in the level of production and value is viewed seriously by the State and appropriate policies were designed to increase production or value. The simple profit maximising model behind such data collection process is well known and needs no further elaboration.

A major critique of this mode of data collection came from the scientific community in early 1970s. Scientists argued that since fishery is an evolving system with diverse forms of biota, habitat and human users as integral components (Shackle, 1985), detailed database is required for the management of these resources. International fishery managers suggested the collection of data from the biological, economic and social realms of the fishery system for the scientific management of fisheries. Management experts and social ecologists (Berkes and Folke, 1998) emphasized the need to view resource users as an integral component of the ecosystems while environmental economists started treating natural ecosystems as integral components of the economic system.

Collecting information on the major ecological environmental and socio economic database is beyond the capabilities of the department of fisheries as it lacked enough scientific and technical skills for collecting "scientific data" about the multi species fisheries and their habitat diversity. Moreover, such data collection and tabulation processes were expensive and were beyond the financial limits of the State Fisheries Department.

Three Central government agencies shouldered the responsibility of collecting scientific information on resources, and exports. The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has perfected its methodology of fish landing estimation and started collecting the time series on species-wise landings of major fisheries along the west and east coast of the Indian peninsula. The Fisheries Survey of India (FSI) started its deep-sea expeditions and experiments for estimating deep-sea fisheries potential. The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) started collecting data on exports of fish products from India. [See next section for details]

There is no doubt that the data provided by the Department was useful to the planners and policy makers in the 1950s and 1960s. The data has revealed the economic importance of this sector to the Kerala economy in terms of production and level of employment. But the technological developments in fisheries and the subsequent evolution of resource crisis and conflicts within the sector demanded more accurate and reliable information on many biological, economic and social variables for better policy formulation. The Department could not provide such information systematically due to shortage of manpower, technical and scientific skills and financial resources

Socio-economic Database

Accurate socio economic data is a pre requisite for introducing people-centred entered welfare and developmental activities among the fisher folk. There is a general feeling that a socio-economic database covering major demographic characteristics, education, occupation, income, expenditure, housing, rural infrastructure, ownership on crafts and gears, traditional property institutions, group formation behaviours, conflict resolution mechanisms etc, are essential for the better governance of fishery resources and the fisher folk alike. At present, the Department does not have any mechanism to collect systematic information on these variables causing considerable delays in implementing economic and welfare oriented programmes for the sector. But this does not mean that the Department marginalizes the importance of such information. In fact the socio economic survey published in the early 1990s is a response of the Department to initiate such data gathering initiatives.

Another major concern faced by planners relates to the relative profitability of different craft-gear combinations both in the inland and marine sectors. The understanding of profitability depends on the collection of systematic data on the costs and earnings of various craft-gear combinations. The Department, which is the regulatory agency, does not have any mechanism so far to collect such information. It mainly depends on individual studies conducted by social scientists and voluntary agencies for taking a decision on economic viability of such units.

Enforcement of Laws and Conflict Management

The Department is also engaged in the enforcement of marine and inland fisheries regulations on the coastal and inland water bodies within its territorial limits. In this process, it has collected much information on various aspects of legal violations, conflicts and conflict resolution mechanisms. In fact, for an institutional fishery economist, this is indeed a rich source of information as it clearly reveals the nature of interaction between the conflicting stakeholders on the one hand and the Fisheries Department, the court and police as mediating regulatory agencies on the other hand. No attempt has so far been made to make this data public. The Department does not think that such data is relevant for resource management and even feels that the publication of such information is violation of formal law.

The CMFRI Data

The CMFRI data on fish landing covers an array of commercially important species of marine fishes available along the Indian coastal waters. The time series data on fish landings is available on request from the Resource Assessment Division of the CMFRI. The data covers a period of around 50 years (from 1950 to 2002). The Department of Fisheries of the Government of Kerala has abandoned this data collection and is relying completely on the data supplied by the CMFRI. A variety of tabulations are undertaken using this database. The distribution of fish landings by pelagic and demersal, the distribution of fish landings by mechanised, motorised and artisanal sectors, the number of mechanised motorised and artisanal crafts and gears, monthly and seasonal distribution of fish landings, distribution of landings by major gears both in the mechanised, motorised and non mechanised sectors and even the district-wise distribution of landings are all possibilities of this computerised database maintained by the CMFRI. The following chart indicates some major categories of tabulations undertaken by the CMFRI.



On the question of the reliability and coverage of the CMFRI data, the opinion of the scientific community is divided. For instance, the Expert Committee for Fisheries Management Studies, Kerala, in its introductory remarks of the report submitted to the Government, states that "some of the committee members were doubtful about the authenticity of the CMFRI database and instead they suggested generation of fresh data from the field by conducting new surveys " (Nair, 2000:5).
4.3. The Fisheries Survey of India (FSI) Database on Marine Resources
The Fisheries Survey of India is a research organisation with a mandate to collect data on the potential of fisheries within India's exclusive economic zone. FSI has conducted many expeditions/trials during the past and has generated information on the deep-sea fishery potential in the waters of the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The data indicates that potential reserves are available in deeper waters and the government should formulate a policy that promotes a sustainable harvest of resources.
The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) Database

The Indian marine products export industry is concentrated in Kerala and provides valuable contribution to its economy. However, the Department of Fisheries of the Government of Kerala does not have any systematic and reliable information on the structure of this industry. The activities of this sector, to a large extent, are monitored by the Marine Products Export Development Authority. The Authority was constituted in 1972 by an Act of Parliament for the promotion of activities relating to fishery exports. MPEDA has been promoting selective export oriented activities in the capture and culture sectors of the fishery economy. It also undertakes activities like introduction of new processing technologies, modernisation facilities and market promotion activities for the Indian seafood industry, which is largely concentrated in Kerala.

MPEDA collects and publishes the statistics of marine products exports from India to the rest of the world. The data is available from 1961 to 2002 (MPEDA, 2001). The database focuses mainly on the quantity exported and its value, different varieties (species) exported, the destinations of export and major markets for Indian seafood industry. The data has good coverage and is useful for understanding the general growth scenario of the Indian seafood industry. However, planners require more precise information at the level of individual enterprises and, MPEDA is not involved in the collection of such statistics at present. Some crucial variables like the installed and utilised capacities, concentration of industrial output, information on industrial effluents and quality standards, technical and economic efficiencies of enterprises, and the evolving new business practices are of interest to planners and policy makers. The Authority should make an honest attempt to publish such information for the benefit of the industry.

Non-governmental Organisations

Apart from the above-mentioned agencies a number of non-governmental organisations working for the development of fishermen are also engaged in the collection and publication of socio economic data. The data available with the South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS) and the Programme for Community Organisation (PCO) merit special mention in this context. For instance, SIFFS has good database on the level of output landed and the costs and earnings of different craft-gear combinations mainly supported by the District Federations under its control. The recent Census on fishing crafts and gears and fishing population, conducted by SIFFS (2000), has also attracted appreciation at the academic and policy circles. SIIFS also maintain good data base on the activities of fisherwomen engaged in fish vending. Data available with these agencies provide useful tips for better management and governance. It may be recalled that many Ministries and Departments of the Government of India have now started depending on this sector not only for the collection of reliable statistics, but also for introducing many programmes of development and resource management.

Suggestions and Guidelines

In the foregoing section, we examined the nature of the existing database on fisheries and pointed out some of the limitations of the existing database. The major limitations of the database may be summarized as follows:


Decentralised planning so far is based on weak database. This should change. A number of studies are undertaken by PhDs and MPhil scholars, but they often do not, in any way, become an input for policy making. It is important that steps are taken to see that such research findings do not go waste.



Although the state itself is the key catalyst of fisheries development and has a diversified network of controlling offices, it does not have a "good databank" for designing appropriate long-term policies. It lacks flexibility, skills and resources for the production of such database required for the socio economic management of resources.


The process of data collection has been influenced by the neo-classical models of economy and state governance, which assumes the social organization of fisheries mainly for profits. As this model is no more relevant for modern resource management, the database derived from such models is of little relevance to the planners and policy makers.


The learning process of the government is very slow and is limited to the periodic contractual arrangements with some individual researchers and research institutes.


It lacks sufficient resources (scientific, technical and financial) and knowledge for introducing scientific fisheries resources management.


Although there exists a number of agencies for the collection of fisheries statistics, there is no coordination of such activities either by the Department of Fisheries of by any agency.


Modern management of fisheries sector requires accurate information on a variety of major attributes in ecological/environmental, economic and social realms.


As the data collection is expensive, the Department has to search for alternate cost effective ways of data collection including exploring the possibilities of associating with non-governmental organisations, local grama panchayats and even community organizations and associations. Such partnerships will not only generate good database but will help in introducing good resource conservation measures and livelihood securities to traditional fishermen.