Economic and Environmental Implications of Trawl Fishing: An Analysis in Munambam Fishing Harbour on the South West Coast of India

Kerala state in the Southwest coast of India is an important maritime state and mechanized trawlers are the principal fishing units in the state. Since 2007, high speed engines were introduced in the trawl fishing sector which yielded higher hauling speed compared to the indigenous engines. Munambam fishing harbour is one of the biggest fishing harbours in Kerala where more than 90% of the mechanized trawlers operate with high speed engines. The high-speed trawlers were criticized for their environmental impacts to marine resources in terms of overexploitation and high fuel consumption. The fuel consumption of fishing units has economic, social and environmental implications with regard to sustainable fish harvests and livelihood security of fishermen. The objective of the study was to assess the economic and environmental implications of high speed trawl fishing units in Munambam fishing harbour on the South west coast of India. The data were collected from 90 boat operators from Munambam fishing harbour during the 2017-2018 fishing season. The samples were drawn randomly from the boat owners or boat operators. The results of the multiple regression analysis used to assess the factors affecting fish catches by high speed trawlers indicated that skipper’s experience and fuel consumption had positive and significant influence on fish catch and 1% increase in quantity of fuel used led to an increase of 0.363% in gross income. The carbon dioxide emissions from the trawlers were also estimated to assess the environmental implications.