Socio-economics of fishermen community around the Junglighat fish landing centre, South Andaman – a case study

Santhosh Ram B; Ravi Ranjan  Kumar; Bitopan  Malakar; Venu S

Santhosh Ram B Dept. of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University, Port Blair Campus, Brookshabad, Chakkargaon P.O., South Andaman
Ravi Ranjan Kumar Dept. of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University, Port Blair Campus, Brookshabad, Chakkargaon P.O., South Andaman
Bitopan Malakar Dept. of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University, Port Blair Campus, Brookshabad, Chakkargaon P.O., South Andaman
Venu S Dept. of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University, Port Blair Campus, Brookshabad, Chakkargaon P.O., South Andaman

Keywords: Socio — economics, Andaman & Nicobar, Fish landing centre, Fishing community

Abstract

The socio-economic status of fishermen community around Junglighat marine fish landing centre was studied. 141 families were interviewed during the present study. Medium families were dominated (48.89%) followed by large (26.67%) while very large families were only 6.66 %. Most of the members of fishermen families (44.44 %) were under the age group of 15 – 34. 89.7% children were attending government schools while, 10.3% were in private schools. The literacy rate was found to be higher (30.68%) and most attended middle school level and 0.5% were graduates. Major religions include Hinduism (54.9 %), Christianism (37.3 %) and Islam (7.8 %). The maximum number of settlers were from Andhra Pradesh (48.3%) followed by Tamil Nadu (38.3%), while the settlers from Kerala (8.4%) and Jharkhand (5%) were the least. Most of the families were found to be residing in semi pucca (asbestos) houses (73.1%) and fewer families (7.7%) were living in kutcha (thatched) houses. Most of the fishermen from Junglighat landing centre (87.1%) were Above Poverty Line (APL) and only (12.9%) lives in Below Poverty Line (BPL) status. 36.17% of the members earn between Rs. 3001 – 4000/- per month and 12.77% between Rs. 4001 – 5000/- per month. Hygienic status of the fishermen population was found to be better and most of the houses were with latrine facilities (97.3%) and only 2.7% were found to be without latrine facilities.

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