Impacts of Coping Strategies of Marine Fisherfolk during COVID-19 in India: Insights from a Survey in Four Maritime States

This paper analyses the impacts of COVID-19 on the livelihood of marine fisherfolk in India, the coping strategies followed, and their socio-economic correlates, based on field-level data.We interviewed about 850 fishers from four states of India-Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, and Maharashtra between November and December 2020.We report the major impact of COVID-19 on employment, income, and psychosocial effects.The fishers were affected negatively in all these dimensions, and the impact was felt disproportionately higher on women.The fishers adopted several coping strategies falling in the realms of food-related coping strategies, expenditure reduction, and participation in social welfare schemes.The correlates of coping strategies were examined by a multivariate probit model.We report that the adoption is correlated with the personal attributes of the fishers, ownership of economic and social capital, and their economic status.The study calls for containment policies factoring in the tradeoff between COVID-19 and loss of livelihood and protecting the vulnerable sections, should such circumstances arise in the future.