Fishing wisdoms of fisher-folks of Sepahijala District of Tripura

Fishing is an important as well as integral activity for livelihood of fisher-folk community of Sepahijala district. In this study, an effort was made to document the traditional fishing wisdoms in terms of fishing boats and practices of Tripura. For the purpose, participatory rural appraisal (PRA) in three important fishing grounds namely Gumti river basin, Bijoy rivulet, and Rudrasagar lake was conducted. Group discussion, direct observation, filling of questionnaires with 30 fishermen through survey was made to document the details of traditional fishing boat and fish harvesting practices. Three basic types of traditional wooden boats/crafts viz., Choto kusa, Bara Dingi and Saranga being were used during fish harvest. Most of the fishing boats were constructed using locally available wooden materials and fishing without gear, stupefying methods, poisoning, using spit and joined cast netting were also practiced.