Statistics and Economics

• Assessment of consumption of fuel by the fishing industry
• This is a very interesting and revealing study and points out the importance of the Institute?s work on development of ?Fuel-efficient fishing vessels? and the utilization of fishing capacity.
• The estimation of fuel utilized by the fishing industry in Kerala was one of the primary objectives of the research project. For this purpose a complete enumeration of the mechanized crafts of Kerala was taken up during the trawl ban period of June 15- July 31 of the year 2003. The boats were categorised on the basis of the over all length (LOA) of the craft. The categories are Small (below 40 ft. LOA) and medium (40-48 ft. LOA). The detailed information on the make of hull, length, breath and depth of the boats, make and horse power of the engine, fuel and water storage capacity, ice and fish storage capacity etc. were also collected. As per the census study the details of the number of mechanised fishing boats under different category are as follows.

• The fuel utilized by the mechanized fishing industry in Kerala was estimated to be 97, 000 kL. The quantity of fuel utilized by small, medium and large mechanized vessels was estimated as 29,075, 32,129 and 36,001 kL respectively. The fishing capacity in Kerala was found to be only 55%.
• The fuel utilized by the fishing industry in Andhra Pradesh was 56383 kL being 19, 698 kL for small mechanized, 21744 kL for sona, 3684 kL for mini trawlers and 11256 kL for trawlers. The average per day fuel utilization by different categories of crafts was 117.83 l for small mechanized, 202.44 l for sona, 502.54 l for mini trawlers and 1173.26 l for trawlers. Based on the ideal number of fishing trips that could possibly be undertaken by different categories of crafts (35,520 by small mechanized; 25,740 by sona; 380 by mini trawlers; and 390 by trawlers), it has been estimated that the mechanized sector as a whole has undertaken only 79.7% of the total trips in Andhra Pradesh during 2004.
• The studies also revealed that 2589 boats are presently operating from Veraval alone as against a total of 7,162 in the whole of Gujarat.
   

Economics of operation of mechanized fishing vessels

• A statistical model was developed for evaluating the economic viability of all classes of mechanized fishing vessels:
• Y= 37.87 + 0.4795X1 + 0.1305X2 + 0.4937X3; where Y is the revenue; X1 is the number of fishing days, X2 is the fuel cost and X3 is the repair cost.
• Production functions as calculated for different classes of vessels are as follows:
• Upto 12.1 m: Y = 2.381 + 1.071X1 + 0.315X2 }
• 12.1 m ? 14.5 m: Y = 0.721 + 0.731X1 + 0.202X2 }
• Above 14.5 m: Y = 2.606 + 0.531X1 + 0.276X2 + 0.113X3
• The models were found to be good fit and all the coefficients found statistically significant at 1% level.
• The two critical factors affecting economic viability of fishing were seen to be low income and the highly skewed distribution of this income.
• Economic evaluation of 18 m steel trawler designed by the CIFT for commercial operations indicated the operational profits to be 47.5% of the operating cost. The economic efficiency of deep sea trawlers (14.5 m-16.7 m OAL) was evaluated and it was observed that the annual net profit was 7.06% of the total costs (fixed and variable) incurred.
• Large mechanized trawlers operating off the west coast have registered a gross return of Rs. 20 lakhs per annum against the operational expenditure of Rs. 17.18 lakhs with an operational profit of 16.41% indicating that capital recovery will be possible only in 7 years at the present rate as compared to 5 years in 2001.
• Comparative evaluation of the fuel subsidy rates has shown that the policies in this regard differ from state to state.