International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 2319-7064 Index Copernicus Value (2015): 78.96 | Impact Factor (2015): 6.391 Volume 6 Issue 8, August 2017 www.ijsr.net Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY Comparison of Socio-Economic Status of Fishers in Karainagar, Point Pedro and Mathagal Village, Jaffna Vithursha Tharmakokilam 1 , Sivashanthini Kuganathan 2 , Gunaalan Kuddithamby 3 Department of Fisheries Science, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka Abstract: The study focused on the comparison of socio-economic status of fishermen living in Karainagar, Point Pedro and Mathagal village, Jaffnafor a period of six months from September 2015 to February 2016.Data were collected from randomly selected 100 fishermen through structured questionnaire, interview and observation. Descriptive analysis of the direct social demography was done by using excel. The outcome of the study revealed that all fishermen were Catholics and Sri Lankan Tamils. Fishermen venture into sea, is aging between 44 -56 years and with primary education (70 %). The sex demography of communities explicit that in Point Pedro and Mathagal,men were higher in percentage (53.47%, 54.81%), while in Karainagar,women were higher in percentage (53.33%). Most of the houses in Karainagar and Point Pedro were good in condition. In general smoking, betel chewing and use of liquor were the common habits among all the adult fishermen. Active fishermen at Point Pedro and Mathagal were 90%, but 86% in Karainagar; having a mean income of LKR respectively Rs.35 000, Rs.51 250 and Rs.43 476.Income levels depended on the type of fishing method and effort. Keywords: Questionnaire, Socio-economic, Fishing effort, Income Level 1. Introduction Jaffna District is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka. It is located in the far north of Sri Lanka in the Northern Province and occupies most of the Peninsula. Jaffna district is surrounded by rich fishing areas. It inhabits a variety of species of finfish, shellfish and holothurians. Jaffna Peninsula is famous for its coastal fisheries. Two types of fishing methods identified in Jaffna are traditional and modern. The traditional methods are highly abundant in Jaffna area. Fishery resources are one of the major livelihoods in Northern Province. Fish is one of the main sources of providing nutrition to the mankind. Its contribution is vitalas food, source of employment and crucial to the economy of Sri Lanka. Fisheries sector plays an indispensable role in the economy of Sri Lanka contributing about 1.2 % to the GDP (Anonymous, 2013). Karainagar, Point Pedro and Mathagal are situated in the Jaffna Peninsula, Northern Province.Fisheries and agriculture are the major economic activities in these places. The settlements of most of the fisher folk are near to the coast.Fishery is the major occupation for the village people. 2. Literature Survey The data were collected from 110 respondents by using random sampling method. It was found that most of the inland fish farmers belong to the scheduled caste and majority of the fish farmers had their own land and practiced fish farming as the primary occupation for many decades. Their income from fish farming was too low (between Rs. 20,000 and 30,000/- p.a.). Most of them took financial help from their friends and relatives for their day to day investment. They spent their major earnings for basic needs, food and their children‟s education. Poverty, lack of marketing facilities and lack of technical training are the major hurdles they face(Tapashi and Methra, 2014). Fishery related activities carried out in the Teknaf region include fish marketing and trading, gear and craft maintenance and repair. There are very limited options for non-fishery related activities such as wage labour in the other sectors like agriculture, construction, livestock and poultry rising(Subrata Kumar Ghoshet al, 2015). The present study has also revealed that 70% of fishermen are engaged in fishing as their main occupation, 10% was in agriculture and 20% in daily labour as in other business. Mainoccupation of the people among 50 fishermen was fishing (86%), while 14% were secondary occupation. This result supports our findings to an acceptable level (Mahmud et al, 2015). Socio economic constraints such as household family pressure, low income, illiteracy, low economic status and lack of alternative employment opportunities are the main problems for marine fisheries development. The offered credit facilities from different GOs, NGOs are insufficient to meet their needs (Subrata Kumar Ghoshet al, 2015). The status of the fishermen were below the poverty line and were struggling to survive, with inadequate health, nutrition, sanitation, water supply, soil fertility, cooking fuel, animal feed and house building materials as their day-to-day problems (Rahman, 1994). 3. Objectives Current study is focused on comparison of socio-economic status of fishers in Karainagar, Point Pedro and Mathagal village, Jaffna. Paper ID: ART20175739 DOI: 10.21275/ART20175739 97