Impact evaluation of marine fisheries interventions among Tribal Fisher Commune of Car Nicobar Island, India

Abstract

Fisheries and tourism are two important sectors that provide livelihood and employment in the tropical Islands. Andaman and Nicobar group of Islands is a biodiversity hotspot in the Bay of Bengal inhabited by settler population along with indigenous tribal communities. The Nicobar tribal community is one among occupying the Nicobar group of Islands in the majority and are quite socialized tribal communities of the Islands. Agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries are the major sectors that contribute to the livelihood and nutritional security of the Nicobar tribes. Traditional fishing activities have been a part of their culture over the years however, tribal youths were reluctant in taking up fishing as a profession considering the changing scenario and alternative employment options. To reinstate fisheries as a profession and to improve their livelihood and employment opportunities, interventions were carried out in Car Nicobar Island. The interventions were mainly aimed towards increasing fish catches, to expand their fishing grounds and to sensitize safe fishing and navigation practices. Fishing inputs such as modern fishing boats, GPS and outboard engines were provided as inputs to tribal fishers based on the outcome of an expert consultation meeting. Structured questionnaires were prepared to analyze the impact of the interventions. The results indicated that the interventions led to a significant improvement (p <0.001) in the expansion of their fishing grounds (3.47 ± 0.2 km), reduced time spent to reach the fishing grounds (2.3 ± 0.25 hour) and increased catch per unit effort (7.93 ± 1.23 kg/boat). This study shows that the targeted interventions coupled with awareness and sensitization programmes could make fishing activities profitable, attractive and can motivate the unemployed youths to opt for fishing as a profession.

Aboriginal Tribe’s Knowledge of the Endangered Freshwater Turtle Cuora amboinensis in Car Nicobar, a Remote Oceanic Island in the Bay of Bengal

“…The Nicobarese tribes have their hunting rights reserved as per the Wildlife Act 1972, India. The hunting activities of Nicobarese tribes on the terrestrial and marine fauna for food security are also an integral part of their cultural setting and values [52][53][54][55]. Similarly, Atlantic walrus hunting plays a key role in reproducing the cultural values and livelihoods of the people of northwest Greenland [56].…”

Policy framework and development strategy for freshwater aquaculture sector in the light of COVID-19 impact in Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, India

“…Freshwater fish farming is the most active food producing sector in the Andaman group of Islands (North, Middle and South Andaman) due to the settler population preferring the culture of freshwater fishes for food security and market ( Rajan et al, 2018 ; Kiruba-Sankar et al, 2018 ). In the Nicobar group of Islands, freshwater fish culture is limited to Great Nicobar (Campbell Bay) wherein settler population is prevalent, whereas the rest of the Nicobar group of Islands has restricted access to outsiders and are primarily inhabited by the traditional communities engaged in marine fishing activities for their subsistence ( Ravikumar et al, 2016 ; Kiruba-Sankar et al, 2020 ). Hence in our interviews, the respondents were mostly from the Andaman group of Islands whereas there was a smaller representation from the Nicobar group of Islands.…”

Analysis of Fishery Resource Management Practices in São Tomé and Príncipe: Perception of the Dynamics of Catches from 1950–2020, Recommendations and Strategies for Future Research

“…However, other negative measures that have hindered the development of fishing are closely related to the economy of fishing, since fuel is the main cost factor of motorized canoes [22,25,38], and for future analysis, a study of value chains of exploitation of fishery resources is recommended for economic feasibility studies, agreeing with the point of view of D'almeida et al [34], Horemans et al [43], NGO-MARAPA [27], and Porriños [52]. Furthermore, the results of the studies carried out by Djiénouassi [5], DF-DRSTP [46], and Moniz et al [19], as well as the studies of Porriños [49], also show that the captures of some fish species have decreased in the marine waters of São Tomé and Príncipe due to the use of illegal fishing gear, namely hand grenades, with consequences for the marine environment, and that conflicts have arisen between fishermen from different fishing communities, as reported by Belhabib [12], Kiruba-Sankar et al [59], and Mpomwenda et al [26]. To address this situation, and in contrast to what we have observed in other West African countries [12,37,40], fishermen in STP should use motorized pirogues as a means of ensuring better navigability to reach different areas of capture, thus avoiding clustering in the same fishing grounds, ensuring greater productivity and helping to spend less time at sea during the fishing operation [38].…”

“…The development of alternative sectors through semi-industrial fishing sustainability activities should be promoted by following up with appropriate monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) systems. At-sea observation and electronic monitoring systems are important components that could be adopted in the future to analyze and identify the strengths and shortcomings in São Tome and Príncipe's ability to meet the requirements of the Agreement on Port State Measures (APSM) for fishery control [6,59].…”