National marine fisheries census in maritime states begins

The Census, held after a gap of five years, was conducted by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), a research body under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR-CMFRI).

The island regions of Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep will be enumerated under the supervision of Fishery Survey of India, according to a CMFRI release here.

The Census, taken up at an estimated total expenditure of Rs 3.8 crore, includes collecting information about marine fishermen families, fishing crafts and gears, social and educational profile and demographic features of marine fishing villages.

The last Census was conducted in 2010. This exercise, funded by the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHDF) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, is being coordinated by the staff of the regional, research, field centres and headquarters of ICAR-CMFRI located along the maritime coast of the country. About 3,000 enumerators trained by the ICAR-CMFRI officials will visit 11 lakh fishermen families spread across 4,250 marine fishing villages located in 73 districts to collect the details. The entire process will be monitored and supervised by around 220 officials of ICAR-CMFRI posted at the 26 Centres.

The enumerators will be given schedules formatted to collect details pertaining to social, educational, fishing infrastructure aspects of marine fisher families. The schedules devised to collect information pertaining to each household on the above said details alongside specific fishing occupation particulars such as fishing, processing, handling, marketing and value addition.

The schedules used at the household level have been translated into eight regional languages, including Kannada, for easy use in various provinces.

Apart from the schedules the personnel involved have been provided an instruction booklet to clarify various heads under which details are being collected. Another set of schedules have been devised to collect information pertaining to the infrastructure facilities in fishing villages and other fish harvesting and processing facilities available in various coastal districts.

The ICAR-CMFRI authorities have already conducted training programmes for supervisors and prospective enumerators at various locations along the entire coastline. The data will be analysed by the scientists of ICARCMFRI to develop a comprehensive Census database, which will be helpful in facilitating formulation of fisheries related plans and policies in the marine sector.