Sustainability of marine fishing: a case study of West Bengal

The marine fishery sector in India is important not only for domestic deman d for protein food requirements but also from the imperatives of exports. A n increased investment in this sector has taken place during the last few y ears and the fishing fleet has expanded at a very rapid rate. Presently, ho wever, marine fishers are facing difficulties in fish capture in spite of e xerting the same and sometimes more effort. Thus the question of the sustai nability of marine fishing arises. The sustainability of marine fishing in the Digha-Shankarpur coastal region has been studied through estimation of the maximum sustainable yield based on a simple bioeconomic model. WLS esti mation has been done to remove heteroscedastic disturbances. Estimated resu lts show that actual yields of all varieties are still below maximum sustai nable yield (MSY) except prawn, which has reached near optimal levels.