Economic and livelihood impacts of the decline in Indian oil sardine landings in Kerala state, India

Kerala state in the south west coast of India is a significant contributor of Indian oil sardine, and also a major consumer of the fish. Indian oil sardine landings in the state declined from 3,22,103 t in 2011 to a meagre 13,154 t in 2020. In the past decade, ring seiners contributed more than 90 per cent of the Indian oil sardine landings in the state, and the livelihoods of small-scale fishers operating ring seiners were largely affected by the decline. In this context, an analysis was carried out to study the economic impact of oil sardine decline on the marine fisheries sector and its impacts on livelihood of small-scale fishers. The economic impacts were assessed in terms of changes in gross value and inflation at landing centre and retail levels during 2011–2020. A survey was conducted at 500 fisher households to assess the livelihood impacts based on loss of employment, income and alternate livelihood options. The gross value of oil sardine declined from ₹12,562 million to ₹1,710 million at the landing centre level and from ₹22,869 million to ₹2,687 million at the retail level during 2011–2020. The annual income earned by the fish workers declined from ₹335,593 to ₹90,260 due to the decline in oil sardine landings. Likert scale analysis of the fisher’s perceptions indicated climate change, over exploitation and marine pollution as the major causes of catch decline. Sixty five per cent of the respondents strongly supported the actions for the protection of fisher’s livelihood and suggested incentive (80% strongly supported) and regulatory (45% strongly supported) based fisheries management measures for sustaining the small-scale fisher’s livelihood.