Flying Fish Fishing On The Coromandel Coast, 1988-1991-BOBP/WP/84

There are at least ten species of Flyingfish in the Bay of Bengal but they have not been intensively fished. In order to demonstrate new income-generating activities for smallscale fisherfolk, systematic fishing trials for Flyingfish were initiated by the Bay of Bengal Programme (BOBP) in connection with the demonstration of a beachlanding craft being conducted in Thirumullaivasal, Tamil Nadu, India. The trials, between 1989 and 1991, introduced gilinetting, with or without lures and combined gear arrangements for Flyingfish capture to the local fishermenevery yearin the March-July Flyingfish seasons during this period. In order to study the economic feasibility of continuing Flyingfish operations in the fishing villages of Tamil Nadu, a marketing survey was conducted in 1990 by the Bay of Bengal’s Post-Harvest Fisheries Project, funded by the Overseas Development Administration (ODA), U.K. This working paper details the trials and indicates that the daily earnings of the fisherm en working on the beachianding craft in this fishery compared favourably with the average earnings of fishermen employed in other fisheries during the same period. The marketing study revealed that there is a market for the fresh varieties of Flyingfish as well as for the dried fish.