Abstract
Collecting wild tiger prawn seedlings, also known as prawn post-larvae (PL), from rivers and creeks is an important occupation for more than 100,000 poor women in India’s Sundarban estuarine delta. Prawn PL collecting requires many hours of immersion in saline river water. This paper uses a large household survey to explore the determinants of poor women’s engagement in this occupation and the health impacts. The results reveal high significance for two variables: (i) the opportunity wage, proxied by years of education and (ii) child-care demands, proxied by the household child-dependency ratio. Together, these variables are sufficient to distinguish between women who have no engagement with prawn PL collecting and those with many years of engagement. The probability of self-reported health problems is also significantly higher for women with more saline exposure from prawn PL collecting and whose drinking water is from tube wells with higher salinity.
Highlights
The Sundarban coastal region of India’s West Bengal state is the spawning ground for 90% of the aquatic taxa ofIndia’s northeastern coast, including 172 fish species, 20 prawn species and 44 crab species (Chandra & Sagar, 2003) (Note 1)
Child-care demands, proxied by the household child-dependency ratio. These variables are sufficient to distinguish between women who have no engagement with prawn PL collecting and those with many years of engagement
The probability of self-reported health problems is significantly higher for women with more saline exposure from prawn PL collecting and whose drinking water is from tube wells with higher salinity
Summary
The Sundarban coastal region of India’s West Bengal state is the spawning ground for 90% of the aquatic taxa of. India’s northeastern coast, including 172 fish species, 20 prawn species and 44 crab species (Chandra & Sagar, 2003) (Note 1). Poor women are often seen wading waist-deep for hours in the salty tidal rivers and creeks, dragging triangular nets that collect the seedlings of wild tiger prawn (Penacus monodon) or prawn post-larvae (PL) (Figure 1). The yield from this activity (Figure 2) is sold to aquaculture farms. Poor women have collecteed prawn PL since the early 1980s, studdies of their lives and worrking conditionss have been raare because acccess to the Suundarban regioon is difficult aat best and maany settlementts are isolated. Utilizing an extensive e fieldd survey, thiss paper contriibutes to undderstanding Suundarban wom men’s socioeconoomic conditionns, occupationnal choices, andd the health im mpacts of occuppational expossure
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