Loss of marine fish stock in south west India: Examining the causes from the perspective of indigenous fishermen

Abstract

The study area is a potent biodiversity spot and the indigenous coastal livelihood heavily depends upon the region’s fish resources in the south-west coast of India. They are spread around 35 indigenous fishing villages and having a reef enriched coast of about 80 kilometres. Data were collected through focus group discussions and key informant interviews. All of the discussants were indigenous community members and citizen scientists in the region. The collected indigenous data were validated using the available literature and reports. The result showed the rich marine biodiversity knowledge persists among indigenous fishers, specifically regarding the importance of seabed ecosystems. These are considered as natural assets with respect to the ecosystem services provided by them and the respective livelihood practices possible for the indigenous fishing community. This also indicates a very strong traditional livelihood practice which conserves biodiversity of the ocean and their sustainable use for generations. However, the results also indicated with visual and followed literature evidences, currently, these biodiversity were at a risk of getting extinct and/or endangered. Consequently, this also led to the loss of livelihood in the study areas. Coupled with them, there are various natural and anthropogenic pressures such as Climate Change, Overfishing, Pollution and destructive developmental practices in the area.