An Overview of Fisheries in Mahe District

Fisheries and aquaculture is the fastest growing and important sector of food production providing nutritional security to the food basket and engaging a teeming 14 millions of the population especially in the coast areas. Mahe is the smallest pocket of the union territory of Puducherry situated at 830 kms from its head quarters. The fisherfolk population constitutes of 2548 of whom 350 were traditional fishermen. As Mahe is situated on the south west coastal areas it is blessed with the locational advantage and has large potentialities of fish catch. The present study focuses on the overall picture of the fisherfolk in Mahe and the different modes of fishing operations in the traditional phase, mechanized phase, motorised phase and post motorised phase.