Ecological Dependence and Occupational Changes: A Case Study of Fishermen Community of Yetimoga Area in Kakinada

The fishermen community in India and around the world is directly are indirectly influenced by the globalization factors. Their traditional dependency on fishing made them to continue the occupation by adopting new methods and techniques. But in the process of adoption, the new techniques, imposed policies by the Government and individual interests on other occupations have brought a remarkable change in the lives of fishing communities. The present paper is focused on the fishermen community of Yetimoga of Kakinda Urban, East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh and their approach in practising and continuing the fishing tradition directly or indirectly. It is observed that the men and women are involved in other occupations also along with fishing activity, but the women involvement in the fishing activity is more than men. One side the ecological dependence on available niche and other side the multi-occupational sources placed the fishermen in dilemma to decide their occupations. Besides, the causes of declining factors of catching fish and fish stock due to industrial waste and using of mechanized boats, the impact of aqua culture are also discussed in the paper. The data on owning of traditional and mechanized/small and big boats also helped in understanding the socio-economic conditions of the selected area.