Production Analysis of Inland Fish in Angul District of Odisha

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyse the production of inland fish in Angul district of Odisha. The study is based on primary data collected from 250 fisher men from two blocks of the district. The Production of inland fisherman is positively related to its land, days of fishing, hours of fishing, cost of net used & water area of production. The days of fishing varying from 50 days to 300 days in a year. 38 numbers of fisherman households are working 100-150 days & 26 fishermen are working with the period ranging from 50-100 days. Only 7 numbers of inland fishermen are giving maximum days towards fish cultivation, those who are not doing any other work for their livelihood. Income of inland fisherman is positively related to its land, days of fishing, hours of fishing, cost of net used & water area of production. th position in fish production among the fishing nations of the world and the number one position with regard to export of prawns. India as a maritime country has a vast potential of fishing resources comprising 2 million Sq. Kms of exclusive economic zone for deep fishing 7,520 Kms coast line, 29,000 Kms of rivers, 1.7 million hectares of reservoirs, nearly 1 million hectares of brackish water area and 0.8 million hectares of tanks and ponds for inland and marine fish production. Indian fisheries and aquaculture are important sectors of food production, providing nutritional security to the food basket, contributing to the agricultural exports and engaging about fourteen million people in different activities. With diverse resources ranging from deep seas to lakes in the mountains and more than 10% of the global biodiversity in terms of fish and shellfish species, the country has shown continuous and sustained increments in fish production since independence. Constituting about 4.4% of the global fish production, the sector contributes to 1.07% of the GDP and 4.7% of the agricultural GDP. The total fish production of 6.4 million metric tonnes presently has nearly 55% contribution from the inland sector and nearly the same from culture fisheries. Paradigm shifts in terms of increasing contributions from inland sector and further from aquaculture are significant over the years. With high growth rates, the different facets of marine fisheries, coastal aquaculture, mariculture inland fisheries, freshwater aquaculture and coldwater fisheries are increasingly being diversified, contributing to food, health, economy, exports, employment and tourism of the country.