Survey of aquatic and fisheries information system capacity in the region of Cochin, Kerala

Fisheries sector plays an important role in the Indian economy. It provides nutritional security, employment and income to the population and foreign exchange to the nation through seafood export. The fisheries production has registered an excellent growth during the past half century in India. Information is a very important constituent for the development of the sector, especially education, extension, research and development.

The present study evaluates the information capacity of the aquatic and fisheries institutions in the region of Cochin, Kerala. Cochin is in an advantageous position for the development of the sector. Institutions, small and large numbering 29 within the geographical proximity of 6 km radius in Cochin is an added factor for information resource sharing and cooperative information services and ventures for the benefit of stakeholders in India and Cochin region in particular. The present study gives an overview of the institutions in the region regarding their activities, information resources, services, infrastructure and dissemination mechanisms.

Characterization of these institutions has been tried by considering the presence or absence of parameters of information system viz Information Resources, Information Services, Information Dissemination, Information Infrastructure and Information Domains together which it is termed “Information Capacity” in this study. As the result of the study, the top ranking institution that can play the central role in the regional information network activities in the field of aquatic and fisheries sector has been identified.