Being the fourth most populated state of India, West Bengal has a population of about 82 million, of which a major percentage is represented by coastal fishing communities who are habituated to do a physically demanding occupation which may have a positive influence on their the physical parameters. Thus the present investigation was designed in order to assess the influence of fishery, such a physically demanding occupation on physical fitness and to compare whether fishermen have more cardiovascular fitness and anaerobic power than sedentary workers or not. The study was conducted in 15 randomly selected male fishermen of the Midnapore District (East), West Bengal, India (mean age of 22.5 yrs), and the 15 college students (mean age of 21.9 yrs) served as a control group. A significant difference (p<0.05) in blood pressure, PFI, energy expenditure, body fat% and anaerobic power was found in fishermen. But, in contrast, BSA, BMI, resting heart rate, VO , mean upper arm circumference, thigh and calf circumferences were found to be non-significant. 2max This study implies that fishermen have more physical fitness (cardiovascular fitness) and muscle mass, but a lower percentage of body fat than the sedentary population.

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Background: Reports on the cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition of male workers engaged in processing of tea leaves in factories within the tea-estates of West Bengal, under the influence of physiological workload, are quite scanty. Objectives: This cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate morphometric characteristics based on physiological status and physical fitness of tea factory laborers who are continuously exposed to tea dust in their work environment for more than two years. Methods: Subjects were divided into control and tea garden workers groups. Height and weight were measured and the body mass index (BMI) was computed. Physiological parameters such as resting heart rate, blood pressure, fitness variables like physical fitness index (PFI), energy expenditure (EE), handgrip strength and anthropometric parameters like mid-upper arm (MUAC), thigh circumference (TC), head circumference (HC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were measured. Results: Body surface area (BSA), BMI, body fat percentage and fitness variables (PFI, EE) showed significant difference (p<0.05) between the two groups. Anthropometric measures (MUAC, TC, HC, WHR) reflected poor status among laborers.Conclusions: The present study shows that the majority of workers had ectomorph stature, good physical fitness, but had poor nutritional status (BMI and WHR)