Demographic change in marine fishing communities in India

This chapter is primarily focused on understanding the nature of demographic transformation taking place in the coastal fishing communities in India over the past four decades. Broad patterns of change with respect to key socio-demographic parameters such as the size and structure of population residing in the marine fishing villages, number of fisher households, average family size, poverty status, sex ratio and literacy rate are analysed based on four rounds of the marine fisheries census. Furthermore, other auxiliary details such as the availability of basic amenities in the fishing villages, trends in occupational profile of fishers, gender-wise variations therein, changes in the number of fishing crafts and other fishery related infrastructure are assessed in detail. The predominant pattern of labour mobility, which is a key driver of demographic changes as well as socio-economic transformation within the fishing communities, is discussed based on evidence from recent studies.