COVID-19 and marine fishers in India: Livelihood implications and coping strategies Suresh A1,*, Sajesh V K1, Prakash R Raghu2, Mohanty A K1, Murthy L N3, Jha A K4, Ravishankar C N5 1ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), Willingdon Island, Kochi, Kerala, 682029, India 2ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), Visakhapatnam, Regional Station, Andhra Pradesh, 530003, India 3ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), Mumbai Regional Centre, Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400703, India 4ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), Veraval Regional Centre, Veraval, Gujarat, 362269, India 5ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Versova, Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400061, India *Corresponding author: sureshcswri@gmail.com
Online published on 5 April, 2023. Abstract The paper examines the livelihood impacts of COVID-19 on marine capture fishers in India, the coping mechanisms adopted by them, and their correlates, by using primary data collected from fishers of Andhra Pradesh on the eastern coast and Kerala on the western coast. The fishers adopted several coping strategies, correlated with personal attributes, ownership of economic assets, social capital, and economic status. The study advocates the need to carefully evaluate the trade-off between restrictions to contain COVID-19 and loss of livelihood. Top Keywords COVID-19, Livelihood security, Food security, Coping strategies, Small-scale fisheries, Vulnerability, Risk. Top |