To identify occupational hazards and hazard control strategies adopted by inland fishers of Odisha state in India.Information on occupational hazards faced by fishers was collected by personal inte...

Studies on socioeconomic, communication media usage, occupational, and sociopsychological attributes of farmers are prerequisite for planning, designing, and successful implementation of sustainable management strategies of a sector which is true for Penaeus vannamei shrimp farming also. The state of Andhra Pradesh in India ranks first in shrimp farming. However, Tamil Nadu state has a lot of potential and is slowly catching with third position, so the baseline profile of shrimp farmers of Tamil Nadu was collected through interviews with 316 shrimp farmers in Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Thanjavur, and Thiruvallur districts. Most shrimp farmers were men of middle-age, with experience ranging from 1 to 5 years with secondary school to graduate level education. About 89.36 of shrimp farmers had taken loans for the purpose of shrimp farming whereas 78.16 were depending on income from shrimp farming as a repayment source. The benefitcost ratio of shrimp farming was 2.2 indicating profitability so 79.37 of them were able to save money. However, for 86.53 this was a major expenditure too indicating its vital role in their life. For acquiring information for shrimp farming, 40 relied on friends and 24 relied on fellow farmers. Shrimp farmers were well-versed with the present-era mass-media and through smartphones they acquired information from apps like YouTube. Innovation proneness, scientific orientation, and economic motivation were found to be high in about 30 of farmers. Proper planning is essential for sustainable shrimp farming and sustaining the socioeconomic benefits. The studied attributes play an important role in formulation, designing, and successful implementation of sustainable shrimp farming.

Kerala, a maritime state on the west coast of peninsular India, constitutes approximately 10% of India’s total coastline and claims a 20% share in national marine fish production. The registered fishing fleet consists of about 29,969 motorized, 4248 mechanized, and 2515 non-motorized crafts. This study was done to assess occupational hazards faced by fishers as well as the usage of sea safety devices (SSDs) in Kerala. Information was collected from 180 mechanized, motorized, and traditional boat owners. The study revealed that capsizing, sinking, grounding, burning, collision, mishaps, man overboard, and injuries were common occupational hazards. SSDs used were life buoy, life jacket, first aid kit, emergency rations, fire extinguisher, fire bucket, global positioning system, magnetic compass, emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB), sonar, echo sounder, oil lamp, signaling torch, and batteries. Fishers with mechanized boats had high knowledge and used most SSDs. Fishers with motorized boats had adequate knowledge but less SSD usage. Traditional and small-scale fishers did not use most SSDs. Non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis statistical test revealed a significant difference in regards to usage between mechanized, motorized, and traditional fishers, indicating there are gaps in usage of SSDs between the three groups of fishers. It is necessary to educate and motivate fishers with motorized and traditional boats to use SSDs.

Ornamental fisheries are an emerging business and offer vast opportunities. In India, the Maharashtra state had a scheme called “Rainbow Revolution”, which was started to encourage breeding and export of ornamental fishes. Taking advantage of this scheme, 305 male and female entrepreneurs took up this small-scale business. Gender analysis, which provides the necessary data and information to integrate a gender perspective into policies, programs, and projects and allows for the development of interventions that address gender inequalities, was conducted using the Harvard Analysis Framework for male and female entrepreneurs involved in ornamental fish production. The objectives were to explore factors that influenced entrepreneurs to take up this business and to map the activity, access, and control profile of male and female entrepreneurs involved in ornamental fish production. Out of 305 ornamental production units under the Rainbow Revolution scheme, 110 units were studied, of which 82 were owned by men and 28 were owned by women. Factors that influenced both men and women to pursue this business were community norms, prevailing social hierarchy, demographic factors, and access to special training. Activity profile revealed that men were involved in the construction of ornamental fish production unit, observation and checking fish health, checking water parameters, live food culture, marketing, upkeep, and maintenance, and it was found that they spent an average of 8 h/day on these activities. Women were involved in fish feeding, cleaning of tanks, siphoning, feed preparation, and marketing, spending an average of 4 h/day. Many activities like feeding, cleaning of tanks and siphoning, feed preparation, setting of fish for breeding, removal of offspring, and marketing were performed by both. Men had higher access and control on resources like land, farm, machine, equipment, and finances. The Mann–Whitney U test revealed a statistically significant difference between men and women’s access and control on resources. A study has revealed that in addition to family and house responsibilities, women spent 4 h/day on this business. They have less access and control on resources because of the existing power relations with which we conclude that men and women cannot be treated as homogeneous categories when designing any schemes/policy interventions.