06-bioresourcesstatu.. - M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation

Lakshadweep Islands
islands to improve their tuna catch. The annual
fish landings that were 6800 MT in 1988 have gone
up to 14626 Mt in 1998. This is a per-eapita catch
of 224 kg. Four hundred mechanized pole and line
tuna fishing boats caught these from near shore
waters. About 85% of the total landings constitute
skipjack tuna. About 65% of the landing goes for
curing and 32% goes for domestic consumption
that gets marketed afresh in the local market.
Around 6000 people directly and 3000 people
indirectly find self-employment opportunities and
earn income from fishing.
Figure 9. represents the island wise fish landing.
Almost 60% of the total catch is caught by
fishermen from Minicoy, Agatti and, Kavaratti.
This includes. the catch from Suheli - an
uninhabited island, which is a traditional fishing
ground for Kavaratti fishers. Kavaratti, Minicoy
and Agatti are also the most developed islands in
Lakshadweep.
Fishing methods
Figure 9 ~ Island wise fish landing in Tonnes (1998)
8 Minicoy
17%
DKalpeni
4%
1:13Kavaratli
,4%
Q Kiltan
8%
lDAgatti
- 16%
1. Pole and line tuna fishing: At present there are
400 boats engaged in tuna fishing 8-10 people form
a team in one boat. Four men who do the pole and
line fishing. A wate~-spraying machine has now
been included in the Tuna fishing boat and
thereby the 4 people involved in water chumming
activities are no longer needed. The number or'
pole and line fishermen has increased to six from
four. Nowadays the fishing boat team not only
share the tuna catch, but continue the
partnership, in post harvest activities of Preparing
Mas and even marketing the Mas. This fishing
takes place only during the fair season October-
May. 5-8 m long bamboo poles, nylon line and
barbell hooks are used. Some of the new fishing
boats are fitted with GPS sets and C B radio.
114
Operation: depending on the tuna fishing ground
the boats leave early in the morning. The first step
•
is to collect bait and keep them live in a bait tank
inside the boat. In Minicoy Island bait is collected
in a separate operation the day before and the live
bait is kept in flotation tanks called Laban. The
boat then moves to the deep sea scouting for tuna
shoals. Once the shoal is sighted the tuna is
chummed by throwing the b&it into the water and
the fishermen start fishing with the pole and line
and land the fish in the boat.
Catch composition: Skip jack 70% and yellow fin
tuna 30%. Average landings 200 numbers/
operation when landing is good and 100 numbers
when landing is poor. Fifty percer.t of the total
catch goes to the boat owner and 50% are shared
amongst the team of ten fishermen. The number of
boats fishing from a shoal varies with the size of a
shoal and number of boats around. The
understanding is that none of the boats will create
a problem for the other while fishing from the same
shoal.
Post Harvest operation: As soon as the Tuna
catch is landed on the shore. The fishermen start
cutting and cleaning the Tuna. The heads are
chopped off and the body is neatly filleted and the
skeleton also removed. AIl this waste is buried in
a pit dug at the seashore itself. The Tuna fillets
are boiled in a huge pot filled with seawater. After
boiling the fillets are removed and smoked on a
fire using coconut leaves and husk. Thereafter
they are dried in the sun to remove residual
moisture. They are then packed in Gunny bags
and exported to the mainland markets either
through the Co-operative society or directly.
The gender aspects of Tuna post harvest work
differ from Island to Island. In Minicoy it is only
the women who take care of all post harvest work
once the fish has landed. In Agatti however the
same 10 teams members (male) are involved
together for the preparation of Mas for export. In
the other islands both men and women participate
in Mas making.
1!. Net Fishing: Nets are used to catch fish in the
lagoon. It is estimated that at lest 8-10 fishers per
Island operate their nets on a daily basis. The
quantity of lagoon fish caught varies from 2 kg by
cast net, 8kg by shore seine to 200 Kg from the
Olavala and Kandalivala operation. The
department of fisheries does not enumerate the
quantity of fish caught by individual operators and
concentrates on only the big operations.