International Journal of Research in Social Sciences
Year : 2020, Volume : 10, Issue : 4
First page : ( 1) Last page : ( 9)
Online ISSN : 2249-2496.

Present Status and Problems of Mussel Farmers in Kerala-A Case Study of Kollam District

Azad A. Abdul Kalam*, Dr. Harikumar P.N.**

*Assistant Professor, Dept. Of Commerce, MSM College, Kayamkulam Alappuzha (Dist.), Kerala

**Head & Associate Professor, Dept. Of Commerce, Catholicate College, Pathanamthitta, Kerala

Online published on 19 November, 2021.

Abstract

Aquaculture simply means theproduction of aquatic organisms as well as fishes, molluscs crustaceans, and aquatic plants. This form of cultivation originated in China about 4000 years back. Kautilya's Arthasastra- one of the oldest Indian epics indicates that fish culture activity in India dates back to 2000 years.Mussels are included in the molluscan species. Open sea and estuaries are most suitable for mussel farming. Farming of Mussel is most important due to their advantages like they feed directly on the primary producers like the phytoplankton and it can be farmed three dimensionally in the water column at the farm site.Aquaculture is the fast growing food production sector with an average of 4.8% annual growth during 2011–17. In 2017 the total production reached 80 Million Tones and total sale value to 238 Billion. In 2017 among the top producers of Aqua products (excluding aquatic plants and non food products) china is the first position with 46.8 M.T and India standing second with 6.2 M.T.Green Mussel (PernaViridis) and Brown Mussel (PernaIndica) are most available mussels along the Indian coast.Totalmussel production in 2017 was 2.16 MT through aquaculture and 86,000 t in capture fisheries all over the world.Annual bivalve production in India during the year was 84483 t. Among this Clams dominated the fishery contributing 72.9% to the annual bivalve production followed by oysters 20.5% and mussels 6.5%. Major share of the bivalve production of the country was reported from the State of Kerala (75.8%). Total inland and marine fish productions of Kerala in 2013–14 was 186337 t and 522308 t respectively. But in 2017–18 inland fish production has increased to 189081 t and marine fish production decreased to 483686 t. Total mussel production during 2013–14 was 23969 t in Kerala and 680 t in kollam district. In 2017–18 total mussel production in Kerala is decreased to 2541 t and in kollam district the same is 195 t. The present statistics shows that there are some serious issues related to the farming of mussels in kerala.

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