KERALA ECONOMY AND MARINE FISHERIES

Marine fisheries play an important role in supplying protein rich food to the ever increasing population apart from providing employment to millions of fishermen and considerable amount of foreign exchange earnings for the country. Mechanization was introduced in fisheries from the second half of 1950s now there are two types of vessels used in fishing activities that is mechanized boats and non-mechanized boats. But it had its impact on the livelihood security of small scale fishermen who earned their bread by fishing with artisanal crafts like kattumarams canoes etc. The sea was left barren by the mechanized vessels. As a result the traditional fish­ermen carried out rapid motorization of their crafts by fitting Out Board Motors (OBMs). In this way they were able to thwart the challenges posed by the mech­anized boats. It is clear that the standard of living of the fishermen of motorized sector is lower than mech­anized sector. Against this background a research study was conducted in Chombalaharbour of Kerala and the study was mainly focused on the technological changes and also makes an attempt to understand the fishing pattern standard of living marketing facilities and socio-economic conditions of the fishermen com­munity in the ChombalaHarbour.