Present status and future prospects of primary fishermen co operative societies in murshidabad district of west bengal

Abstract

Fishermen co-operatives were formed for the development of small-scale fisheries and improvement of the socio-economic condition of poor fishers in India. The state West Bengal organized the first fishermen co-operative society in 1918 with the motive to increase the fish production and to improve the quality of life of co-operative fishers. Since then, these societies have been playing a substantial role in utilizing large water bodies of the state. The present investigation was carried out to study the present status of fishermen co-operatives of Murshidabad district of West Bengal. The specific objectives were (1) to find out the present status of primary fishermen co-operative societies (PFCS) of Murshidabad district, West Bengal. (2) To study the water and soil quality parameters of the selected water bodies under the co-operatives. (3) To study the socio-economic profile of the co-operative fishers of the selected fishermen co-operative society. (4) To suggest suitable recommendations for the overall development of the fishermen co-operatives in the study area. newline