Navigational And Technical Skill Of Indian Deep-Sea Fishermen: A Quantitative Analysis Between Fishermen Of Malabar And Coromandel Coast

Rising collision accidents involving fishing vessels in the South West Coast of India are a serious concern. Deep-sea fishing vessels from Malabar Coast are involved in close-quarters situations or collision incidents with the merchant vessels when they are fishing near or passing through the International Maritime Traffic Route (IMTR), which is located close to the Indian Coast. It could be because of their poor navigational abilities or practices. With the aim of finding the reason for such a rise in accidents, a study was conducted, comprising 175 respondents each from Malabar Coast (MC) and Coromandel Coast (CC) through a structured questionnaire. Unstructured methods were also employed to exactly understand the responses from the fishermen. The study compares the deep-sea fishermen from the Malabar Coast with Coromandel Coast to examine their navigational technical skills.The outcome of the study can bring out the lacuna in the navigational technical skills of the deep-sea fishermen and assist the policymakers in determining the training needs, and the modification in the vessel design for safe sea voyages.