Financing and Marketing Management

Unit 2- Cooperative movement in fisheries in India

2.4. Fishery cooperatives in India
Development of fishery industry offers big opportunity for exploitation of fishery resources of the coastal as well as inland waters. Though fishermen have a very high potential, the fishermen continue to remain as the weak section. They are exploited by the middlemen. Institutional safeguards would be very effective against such exploitation. Fishery cooperatives are considered to be the best means of ameliorating the socioeconomic conditions of the fisher folk. Fishery co-operatives would enable the fishermen to develop an institutional structure through which they can avail themselves of financial and technical assistance to increase the catch of fish and gain a bargaining power for securing better price and thus improving their economic conditions.
The aim of the fishery cooperatives is not only to increase fish production but also to improve the fishermen. It will generate employment opportunity in fish processing, fish drying and fish curing etc. They also facilitate the movement of fish from the coastal areas to the marketing centers and make fish available to the consumer at a fairly reasonable prices.
Broadly the types of fisheries cooperatives in different states are

• fisheries credit societies
• producers cooperative societies
• fish consumers societies
• prawn curers societies.
• Marketing federation
• Apex societies

Fishery co-operatives in India were started mainly due to the efforts of Sir Frederic Nicholson who was the Director of Fisheries in the former Madras provinces. In 1944, ‘fish subcommittee’ on Agricultural policy committee recommended that like Japan, both direct and indirect assistance should be given to the industry. In 1946, the cooperative planning committee recommended that state aid for the development of fishing industry should be given largely through cooperative societies. These societies give financial assistance to their members, and stock and sell fishing craft and tackle at a fair price. They should also undertake marketing functions.
The growth of fishery cooperatives was very slow. By 1944, there were hardly 200 fishery cooperatives in the whole of India. These societies were mostly credit societies and their main aim was to provide credit to the members.co-operatives fishing, processing and marketing were not envisaged by these societies that time. It was after the commencement of the five year plans that the importance of fishery co-operatives was recognized.
At present co-operative fishery programme is being developed on project basis. The salient feature of this project are intensification of fish production through introduction of mechanized boats, supply of mechanized boats on credit to groups of members of Co-operatives, supply of Kerosene, nets and other requisites to the fishermen, provision of common facilities and services like boat building yards, ice plants, cold storage canning plants, transport vehicles, marketing of fish and fish products and recovery of loans from sale price of fish products.
In order to accelerate the pace of development of fishing co-operatives, the NCDC has formulated patterns of assistance for fishery cooperatives which includes assistance for strengthening the share capital of societies, establishment of service and repair centers for boats, setting up of canning units, fish oil and meal plants net making units construction of godowns, drying yards etc and also purchase of boats and other equipments.
NCDC provides assistance to fishery co-operatives for the following purposes.

• Purchase of operational inputs such as fishing boat nets and engines.
• Creation of infrastructure facilities for marketing (transport vehicles, cold storages, retail outlets etc.
• Establishment of processing units including ice plants, cold storages etc.
• Development of inland fisheries, seed farms, hatcheries etc
• Preparation of feasibility reports.
• Appointment of experts under technical and promotional cell schemes.
• Integrated fisheries projects (marine, inland and brackish water)