There were 346 marine fishing villages in West Bengal out of which 237 were in 24 Parganas (S), 85 in Purba Midnapur and the remaining 24 were in Howrah district.
The total number of fishermen households was 53, 816 of which 81% were in 24 Parganas (S) district, 15% in Purba Midnapur and 4% in Howrah district.
Marine fishermen population in West Bengal was 269, 565. Adult male constituted 32%, adult female 29% and children 39% of the population. Average population per village was 779 and the average family size was 5. Fishermen concentration was higher in 24 Parganas (S) district followed by Purba Midnapur and Howrah. Female to male ratio was 898 for 1000 males.
In West Bengal 31% of the fishermen possessed primary level of education, 13% secondary level and 2% possessed above secondary level of education. About 54% of the fishermen population has no formal education. Nearly 54% of the marine fisherfolk in Purba Midnapur district had some level of formal education followed by Howrah (53%) and 24 Parganas (S) (41%).
About 93% of the fisherfolk families were Hindus and more than 52% of the fishermen families belonged to either scheduled caste or scheduled tribe.
Active fishermen constituted 26% of the fisherfolk population, of which 72% were full time fishers, 22% were part time fishers and the remaining 6% were occassionals. Most of the Howrah and Purba Midnapur fishermen were full timers, while part time and occasional fishermen were maximum in 24 Parganas (S) district.
Nearly 21% of the fisherfolk earned their livelihood from allied activities like marketing, making / repairing nets, curing, peeling, labour and other fishery related activities. Most of the males were engaged in occupation such as labour (57%), repairing / making of nets (19%) and marketing (11%) while female involvement is higher in repairing / making of nets (43%), labour (19%) and curing (16%).
10% of the fisherfolk were having membership in co-operative societies out of which 80% have membership in fisheries co-operatives. Co-operative membership was maximum in Purba Midnapur district.
Trawlers, gill netters and dolnetters were the main craft of the mechanized sector and plank built and canoes were more in the artisanal sector. There are 18, 646 craft in the fishery employed in marine fishing of which 6, 829 were mechanized; 1, 776 are motorized and the rest non-motorised. Gill netters and Dolnetters (craft mainly used in the bagnet fishery) account for 89% of the mechanized craft. There were 610 mechanized trawlers of which 576 were in 24 Parganas (S).
West Bengal marine fisherfolk owned 17, 669 craft out of which 35% were mechanized, 9% were motorized and the remaining were non-motorised craft. The number of families having shares in fishing craft was maximum in Purba Midnapur and followed by 24 Parganas (S).
Important gears of West Bengal were gill nets, fixed nets and hook & lines. Sharing pattern is more visible in Bagnets, shore seines and trawl nets.
Nearly 49% of the fisherfolk families involved in fishing possess neither craft nor gear.
Only 3% of the fisherfolk families were found to own some electronic gadgets / life saving equipmen.
In West Bengal, nearly 91% of the houses where marine fisherfolk families live were found to be kutcha and the maximum (93%) was in 24 Parganas (S).
There were nearly 9 educational institutions inevery 5 marine fishing villages mainly dominated by the primary schools. The maximum number was in the district of 24 Parganas (S).
About 46% of the marine fishing villages were electrified and 29% were connected by road.
There were only 38 ice factories located in the marine fishing villages of which 34 were in 24 Parganas (S).
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