Sea Safety South Asia

Maharashtra

There were 406 marine fishing villages in Maharashtra out of which 159 were in Raigard district, 88 in Ratnagri, 71 in Sindhudurg, 61 in Thane and the remaining 27 in Greater Mumbai district.
The total number of fishermen households was 65,313of which 36% were in Raigad district.27% in Thane, 15% in Greater Mumbai, 14% in Ratnagiri and the remaining 8% in Sindhudurg district.
Marine fishermen population in Maharashtra was 319,397.Adult male constituted 35%, adult females 34% and children 315 of the population. Average population per village was 787 and the average family size was 4.89.
In Maharashtra 305 of the fishermen possessed primary level of education, 31% secondary level and 7% possessed above secondary level of education. Above 33%of the fishermen population have no formal education. Nearly 99%of the marine Fisherfolk in Greater Mumbai district have some level of formal education followed by Sindhudurg (79%), Thane (66%), Raigad (56%) and Ratnagiri district (54%).
About 86% of the Fisherfolk families were Hindus and more than 50% of the fishermen families belonged to either scheduled caste or scheduled tribe.
Active fishermen constituted 23% of the marine fisherfolk population out of which 76% were occasionals. Most of the Raigad, Thane and Ratnagiri districts fishermen were full timers, while part time and occasional fishermen were maximum in Ratnagiri district.
Nearly 50% of the fisherfolk earned their livelihood from allied like marketing, making/repairing nets, curing/ processing, peeling, labour and other fishery related activities. Most of the males were engaged in occupation such as labour (32%), making/ repairing nets (30%) and while female involvement is higher in marketing (70%) and curing/ processing (15%)
14% of the fishermen families were having membership in co-operative societies out of which 84% having membership in fisheries co-operatives. Co-operative membership is maximum in Raigad district.
Trawlers, gillnetters and dolnetters were the main crafts of the mechanized sector. There were 23,508 crafts in the fishery employed in marine fishing of which 13,053 were mechanized, 3,382 were motorized and the rest non-motorized. Gill netters and Dolnetters account for 53% and trawlers 32%of the mechanized crafts. There were 4,219 mechanized trawlers of which 2,258 were in Greater Mumbai district.
Maharashtra marine fisherfolk owned 19.249 crafts out of which 46% were mechanized, 18% were motorized and the remaining were non-motorized crafts. The number of families having shares in fishing crafts was maximum in Thane district followed by Greater Mumbai district.
Important gears of Maharashtra were gill netters, fixed bagnets and seines. Sharing pattern is more visible in shore seines, traps and bagnets.
Nearly 39% of the fisherfolk families were involved in fishing possess neither craft nor gear.
Only 4% of fisherfolk families were found to own some electronic gadgets/life saving equipment.
In Maharashtra, nearly 92% of the houses where marine fisherfolk families live were found to be pucca houses and in Sindhudurg district almost all the houses are pucca houses.
There were nearly 927 educational institutions in all with an average of 2.3 institutions per village mainly dominated by the primary schools. The maximum number was in the district of Raigad.
About 92%of the marine fishing was electrified and 82% were connected by road.
There were only 54 ice factories located in the marine fishing villages of which 22 were in Ratnagiri district.