Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on small-scale fishers (SSF) engaged in floodplain wetland fisheries: evidences from three states in India

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented human health crisis in recent global history with rippling social and economic effects. The outbreak in India has resulted in emergency lockdown in the country for more than 2 months, and that caused decline in the catch, demand, and supply of fish. It has severely altered the life and livelihoods of the floodplain wetland fishers. These floodplain wetlands play a key role in socio-economic development of stakeholders, by generating employment and livelihood in the studied regions. In the present study, a systematic assessment was conducted to identify the impact of lockdown on floodplain wetland fisheries in India with the aim to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on wetland fishing, fisheries production, income, and food access. We conducted a rapid telephonic survey covering176 wetland fishers in 3 states to document the early impacts of the pandemic and policy responses on floodplain wetland fisher households. The majority of fishers report negative impacts on production, sales, and incomes. Fishers of three Indian states Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam lost 20, 25, and 9 fishing days, respectively. About 70, 60, and 55 % fishers of floodplain wetlands of the three states admitted that lockdown made them partially jobless. Fish harvest during March to May was 32, 44, and 20 % lower than the previous years in Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam. The fishers of Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam lost income of INR 10000/-, 12500/-, and 4500/- due to lockdown. The analysis also showed that 25% of fishers each responded moderate to severe psychological impact and anxiety symptoms due to COVID-19. Demand supply gap during the lockdown led to the in 20–40 % increase in farm gate price of fishes at the wetland level. The present study is the first of its kind in India to systematically assess the impact and discusses several magnitudes on floodplain wetland fisher livelihood, income, and food access and suggests strategies and decision support.

Challenges for the fishing community on nutritional perspective in West Bengal coastal areas during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Fishers do hard work as they go to sea, catch the fishes, and then sell them in the market. 24,25 So, they work hard, but intake of food is deficient. Their BMI is very low live in poor nutritional status.…”

“…'Fishing communities,' 'West Bengal coastal areas,' 'Covid-19 crisis', 'social and economic challenges,' 'nutrition crisis' are significant keywords and phrases used for the online searches in open access all databases including Pubmed, Google scholars. 'AND and 'OR' Boolean search has been applied for the filtration in the study, [23][24][25][26]…”

What Makes Small-Scale Fishers Resilient? Lessons from the Coping Strategies under COVID-19 Outbreak Observed in Trang Province, Thailand

“…This paper builds on an analytical framework that combines two different models, the "Adaptive Cycle Model (ACM)" developed by Holling and Gunderson [37] and the "Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF)" proposed by DFID [38]. The ACM aims at understanding resilience by unravelling the dynamics of social-ecological systems, consisting of four specific stages: the exploitation phase (r) characterised by growth and seizing of opportunities, the conservation phase (K) representing stability and increasing rigidity (fore-loop), the release phase (Ω) denoting the period of decline and destruction, and the reorganisation phase (α) for innovation and restructuring (back-loop) [39].…”

“…Our combined framework allows us to analyse what types of capital may influence the social-ecological system in each phase of adaptation, and to discuss how different capitals may affect one another over time (Figure 1). [37] and DFID [38].…”

Environmental Characterization of Two Ecologically Distinct Gangetic Oxbow Lakes Using Zooplankton Taxonomic Indices In Ecological Monitoring: A Comparative Approach

“…The oxbow lakes are characterized by shallow depth, high sediment nutrient, high productivity, well mixing of nutrient (Janseen et al 2014;Tang et al 2018Tang et al , 2019. These lakes offer a plethora of ecosystem services for livelihood and nutritional security to the riparian communities (Sarkar et al 2020; Das et al, 2021). These provide safety from natural calamities, serve as habitat for larval rearing, nutrient recycling, water for domestic and irrigation purpose, shing activities and also considered as "Kidney of ecosystem" due to its e cient sinking capacity to inhale major agricultural runoff ( Oxbow lakes, mainly distributed in eastern and northeastern India are important shery resources.…”