FAQ

1. What are the various arms of the Department of Fisheries in Kerala?
Kerala State Co-operative Federation for Fisheries Development Ltd (Matsyafed), Agency for the Development of Aquaculture in Kerala (ADAK), Kerala Fishermen Welfare Fund Board (KFWFB), Kerala State Fisheries Resource Management Society (FIRMA), Marine Enforcement & Vigilance and National Institute Fisheries Administration (NIFAM) are the various arms of the Department of Fisheries.

2. Which Department is the service Department of the State Fisheries?

Harbour Engineering Department (HED)

3. What is the demarcation for fishing area specified for traditional fishermen?

Area coming within the depth range of 50 meters has been demarcated for fishing by the traditional fishermen using country crafts and beyond the limit in the economic zones can be utilized by motorized boats and large vessels.

4. How many Fisheries Villages are there in Kerala?

i. 222 Marine fisheries Villages and

ii. 113 Inland Fisheries Villages

5. What is the estimated Fishermen population of the State?

The estimated fishermen population of Kerala state is 11.4 lakhs

5. How many Fishing Harbours are in the State?

       10

6. How many Fish landing Centres are in Kerala?

Landingcentres for traditional crafts - 34

Landingcentres for mecanised boats - 9

7. What is the figure of marine fish production of the State?

         5.70 lakh tonnes (2009-10)

8. How many fishing crafts operated in Kerala?

         29,177

9. What is the marine export of Kerala?

Quantitywise (2009-10) -   107293 MT

Valuewise   (2009-10) -     1670 crores

10. What are the major technological changes that have taken place in the capture fisheries of Kerala?

  • Introduction and popularization of synthetic fishing gearmaterials.
  • Introduction of trawling in mid1950s
  • Improvement in efficiency and diversification of trawls,purse seines, gillnets and lines, for mechanized sector.
  • Continuous improvement in size, endurance, installed engine power, winch capacities, fish-hold, freshwater and fuel capacities of mechanized trawlers to enable multi-day fishing, since mid 1980s.
  • Improvement in size, endurance, installed engine power,fish-hold, freshwater and fuel capacities of mechanized gillnetters/liners to enable multi-day, distant water fishing.
  • Adoption of modern technologies such as echo sounder and GPS in a wider scale over the last decade.
  • Motorization of traditional fishing crafts in 1980s and expansion in fishing grounds
  • Improvement of traditional fishing units, in terms of craft modernization, gear materials, gear efficiency and dimensions.
  • Introduction of purse seines in commercial fishing in1986
  • Displacement of traditional boat seines by ring seines.
  • Rapid expansion of ring seine units in terms of numbers, continuous increase in size of crafts, horsepower of OBM, changes in craft materials, continuous increase in overall dimensions of the ring seines and introduction of mechanized purse line hauling.
  • Introduction of mini-trawling in mid-1987 and its subsequent proliferation, targeting near-shore shrimpand fish resources.
  • Introduction of ring seines with inboard engines and purse line haulers in 1999 and continuous increase innumbers.

11. What are the Major craft-gear combinations in the State?

About 18 different craft-gear combinations were underoperation in the traditional sector, including (i) canoecottonshore seine; (ii) canoe-encircling gillnet; (iii) dugoutcanoe- boat seine; (iv) dugout canoe-boat seine; (v)dugout canoe-cast net; (vi) dugout canoe-hook and line;(vii) dugout canoe-large mesh drift gillnet; (viii) dugout

canoe-lobster gillnet; (ix) dugout canoe-sardine gillnet; (x)dugout canoe-shrimp gillnet; (xi) kattumaram-hook andline; (xii) kattumaram-large mesh gillnet; (xiii)kattumaram-shrimp gillnet; (xiv) katturmaram-anchoviesgillnet; (xv) katturmaram-sardine gillnet; (xvi) plankcanoe-hook and line; (xvii) plank canoe-nylon shore seine

and (xviii) plank canoe-small mesh drift gillnet.

12. What is a Mesh regulation?

Mesh regulation is a common measure for reducing thecatch of juveniles and small sized non-target species intrawls. Mesh regulation is an important step towards reducing the growth over fishing, rampant in Indianfisheries. A mesh size of 35 mm has been prescribed fortrawlcodend and incorporated in the Marine Fishing Regulations of Kerala.

13. What is the harvestable potential of marine fishery resources in the Indian EEZ?

The harvestable potential of marine fishery resources in theIndian EEZ has been estimated at about 3.9234 milliontonnes (mt). The EEZ extends to 320 kms from the coast which provides vast potential area for optimum exploitation. About 58 per cent of the resources areavailable at a depth of 0-50 metres, 35 per cent at 50-200

metre depth and 7 per cent in depths beyond 200 metres.

14. Which are the Expert Committees studied the ‘Trawling Ban’ in Kerala?

The State of Kerala is very much concerned about theprotection of the marine fishery resources and to achievethe said object, Kerala has introduced trawling ban as early as in 1988. Kerala is the first State in the country to introduce a trawling ban. The trawling ban thus introducedwas pursuant to various scientific studies conducted by Expert Committees specially appointed by Government ofKerala from time to time. Eleven Expert Study Committees were constituted by the Government of Kerala since 1981.

The name of the committees and the year in which it was constituted are as under:

Sl.No

Name of Committee

Year

1.

Babupaul Committee                         

1981

2.

Kalawar Committee                         

1985

3.

Balakrishnan Nair Committee I       

1989

4.

Balakrishnan Nair Committee II       

1991

5.

P.S.B.R. James Committee             

1992

6.

Sailas Committee                             

1992

7.

Balakrishnan Nair Committee III         

2000

8.

D.K. Singh Committee                       

2006

15. What are the important provisions of Kerala Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1980 (KMFRA)?

In the year 1980, the Government of Kerala had introduced the “Kerala Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1980 (KMFRA)”. Kerala was the first state to adopt such a modelstatute on Marine Fishing Regulations in the country. Theimportant provisions of the said Act are as under:

1) Regulation of Fishing

2) Prohibition of use of fishing vessel

3) Licensing of fishing vessel

4) Prohibition of fishing without license

5) Cancellation, suspension and amendment of license.

6) Registration of vessels etc. etc.

16. What are FFDAs?

The Fish Farmers Development Agency (FFDA) scheme was initiated as a pilot project by the Department of Agriculture & Corporation, Govt. of India in 1974-75 in some states ofthe country in order to utilize village tanks and ponds forthe purpose of aquaculture by setting up district level agencies. The scheme was introduced to more states and thus the number of agencies also increased. FFDAs are provided with necessary funds, Extension Service Units and required infrastructure so as to develop freshwater fishculture in each district. The FFDAs enjoy reasonableautonomy in their operations. There are 14 FFDAs inthe state covering all districts. The first FFDA hasstarted functioning in Palakkad district since 1976.Fresh water Fish Farmers Development Agencies are district level organizations registered under the Charitable Societies Act.

2. Where is the head office of Matsyafed and who is the Registrar of Matsyafed?
The head office is at Kamaleswaram, Manacaud PO, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Director of Fisheries is the Registrar of Matsyafed.

3. Who is the executive head of ADAK and where is the head office of ADAK?
Executive Director is the head. The head office is at Vazhuthakkadu, Thiruvananthapuram.

4. Who is the executive head of KFWFB and where is the head office?
Commissioner is the executive head and the head office is at Thrissur.

5. Who is the executive head of FIRMA and where is the head office?
Executive Director is the head and the head office is at Thiruvananthapuram.

6. Who is the head of Marine Enforcement and where is the head office?
Superintendent of Police is the Head and the head office is at Thiruvananthapuram.

7. Who is the head of NIFAM and where is this institute?
Director, NIFAM is the head and the institute is at Ernakulam

8. How many fishing villages are present in the marine sector of Kerala?
222 fishing villages

9. How many fishing villages are present in the inland sector of Kerala?
113 fishing villages.

10. Give the sector wise fishermen population of Kerala in 2003-04?
The population was 2.51 lakhs in the inland sector and 8.44 lakhs in the marine sector. The total population was 10.95 lakhs.

11. What was the number of active fishermen in Kerala in the year 2003-04?
The number of active fishermen was 1.79 lakhs and 0.41 lakh in the inland sector.

12. What much percent of fishermen population is below poverty line?
61% of fishermen population is below poverty line.

13. What are the districts in Kerala without coastline?
Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Wayanad and Idukki are the districts without coastline.

14.What is the percentage of fisherfolk population having own houses?
89% of fisher folk population have own houses.

15. What are the National Fish Seed Farms of the Department of Fisheries?
Fisheries Department has two National Fish Seed Farms (NFSF) – one at Malampuzha in Palakkad District and the other at Kaviyoor near Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta District.

16. What are the fish seeds produced in the above fish seed farms?
Fish seeds are produced through induced breeding using ovaprim. Fingerlings of carp fishes such as catla, rohu, mrigal, labeo, cyprinus and grass carp are distributed from these fish seed farms.

17. What is KRFDP?
It is the short form of Kerala Reservoir Fisheries Development Project.

18. Does the Fisheries Department have a shrimp hatchery?
Yes. The Department has a shrimp hatchery in the name Regional Shrimp Hatchery at Azhikode in Thrissur District producing disease free quality shrimp post larvae. There is also one shrimp hatchery at Kollam under Brackish Water Fish Farmers Development Agencies.

19. What are Monoculture and Polyculture?
The fish culture system in which only a single species is stocked is monoculture where as in a Polyculture system two or more fish species are stocked together.

20. What is meant by Composite fish Culture?
In a pond, the surface is occupied by floating organisms like plankton, the column region with live and dead organic matter sunk from the surface and the bottom with detritus or dead organic matter. The different trophic levels of a pond can be utilized for increasing the profitability of fish culture. Composite fish culture is a polyculture system in which compatible fishes of different species having different feeding habits are selected and grown in the pond to exploit all types of food available in the different regions of the pond for maximizing fish production. The aquatic vegetation, plankton, decayed organisms and other debris available in the surface, middle and bottom water layers are utilized as feed by the stocked surface, middle and bottom dwelling fishes. Catla, rohu, mrigal, cyprinus, grass carp and silver carp are highly considerable for composite fish culture.

21. Give the difference between cage culture and pen culture?
Cage is a fixed/floating structure made of wooden frame and nylon netting and installed in running or stable water bodies.

Pen is a large closed enclosure in reservoirs, lakes or in sea where floods/cyclones do not cause harm. Pens are erected by split bamboo, wooden, nylon netting or such other structures.

 

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