Author(s): Bhaskar Mahanayak and Ashis Kumar Panigrahi

Abstract: Fisheries in India has high potential for economic growth, nutritional security and socioeconomic development. This country is bestowed with diverse fishery resources. Traditionally, the fishery activities have been performed by fishermen through generations in this country and for collective production and better management of fishery activities, fishermen cooperatives have been formed.The fishermen cooperatives are organized into various tiers with PFCS at the bottom and FISHCOPFED at the top. Large number of fishermen cooperatives have been formed in India as revealed by the FISHCOPFED database. Scattered studies have been made by different authors about the condition and mode of functioning of fishermen cooperatives in this country. The important findings of the recent studies related to status of fishermen cooperatives in India have been discussed in this paper. It was found that there were regional imbalances in the mode of functioning of fishermen cooperatives, some were well managed under active monitoring and support of government but many cooperatives were facing different constraints for their survival. For the increase in fish production as well as socio-economic development of fishermen, sustainable management of fishermen cooperatives are very important. To achieve this, a comprehensive study throughout the country, focussing on various aspects of fishermen cooperatives has been proposed. The need for suitable policy implications for sustainable management of fishermen cooperatives in congruence with the modern technological development in the field of fisheries, environmental pollution and climate change have been mentioned.

DOI: 10.22271/fish.2021.v9.i3d.2491

Pages: 253-259  |  1777 Views  1146 Downloads

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