MSc

The study, "Socio-economic status of traditional fisherfolk
in Kerala - A study in Thiruvananthapuram district" was undertaken with
the following objectives.
1. To understand the present socio-economic status of the traditional
fisherfolk in Kerala with particular emphasis on the income and
expenditure pattern of the community concerned.
2. To analyse the levels of living of the fisherfolk with respect to
food intake, shelter, educational status and sanitary conditions.
Thiruvananthapuram, which is one of the districts with the
highest fishermen population in the State, was selected for the study.
From Thiruvananthapuram district Vizhinjam and Anjuthengu villages
were selected due to their larger size compared to the other fishing
villages and variation in fishing activity. A sample size of 50 traditional
fisherfolk families from each village was selected using stratified random
sampling technique, taking motorised and non-motorised fisherfolk
families as two strata. A well structured and pre-tested questionnaire,
was used for collecting data from the selected sample households. Data
collected was analysed using suitable statistical tools such as mean,
percentage analysis, correlation coefficient and regression analysis.
The variables used in the study included general information
on households, educational level, employment status, income and
expenditure pattern, extent of credit availed and indebtedness, food
intake, health status, housing conditions, social participation and other
relevant characteristics which are useful in measuring the socio-
economic status of a household.






The study revealed that the average family size of the fisherfolk was 5.19. It was 5.58 in Vizhinjam village and 4.8 in Anjuthengu village. It was also seen that the majority of the fishermen under study were in the age group of 21-35 years. The female to male
ratio was found to be 784 females for 1000 males. Landless fisherfolk
families constituted 37 per cent and among land owners 55 per cent had
less than 5 cents of land. The literacy rate of the fisherfolk was found
to be 63 per cent in which males had a lower literacy rate (53 %) than
females (68 %). It was noted that about 85 per cent of the workforce
in the study area were engaged in fishing and about 14.41 per cent were
engaged in fish vending.
The average monthly income of a fisherfolk family was
found to be Rs. 1918.94. In Vizhinjarn village it worked out to be Rs.
2160.20 as against Rs. 1677.68 in Anjuthengu village. Of the total
monthly household expenditure, 62.52 % was spent on food, 12.52 %
on arrack and 8.5 % on fuel and lighting. The percentage expenditure
on betel chewing, clothing, medicinal purposes and recreation were 7.58



%, 4.24 %,2.11 % and l. 92 % respectively. The expenditure on education was observed to be very meager.

It was revealed from the study that the fisherfolk were
mainly utilising money lenders for availing credit. The majority of the
loans availed were used for production purposes such as the purchase of
fishing equipment (54%) and fish vending (5.3%). About 19.5 % of
loans were used for marriage purposes and the rest for home
consumption and for other purposes.
The household food consumption pattern showed that the
cereal food consumption was 45% of the total requirement. They
consumed large quantities of fish. It was also observed that the intake
of vegetables other than tubers, milk and fat and oils were inadequate

when compared to the recommendations of the ICMR. The intake of
pulses was found to be very meagre.
It was revealed that 12 % of the fisherfolk families did not
own houses and lived in houses belonging to their friends or relatives.
•It was also noticed that 54% of the families resided in huts, 24% in
pucca houses, 2% in concrete houses and one per cent in asbestos
house. It was also seen that 65 % of the wage earners lived in huts.
About sixty nine per cent of the houses were non-electrified and about
76 % did not have a latrine.
Among the total fisherfolk respondents selected for the
study only 15% utilised news papers as sources of information.
Respondent s utilising television and radio were 9% and 17%
respectively.