The Indian Ocean is the only place where fish availability has not reduced, unlike all other oceans, which have seen a massive depletion of stocks due to vacuum fishing practices involving factory trawlers. But still, there are several problems. There is the feud between the huge joint-venture trawler operators and the new combination of the artisanal and small-mechanised boat owners for fishing rights. The overwhelmingly large proportion of fish catch comes from the large vessels, but the largest segment of fisheries-dependant people carry out their trade from small boats, a huge majority of them without even outboard machines. Due to a global crisis of fish stocks, the foreign companies would be delighted to enter Indian waters. Which would put further economic pressure on the artisanal fisherfolk and ravage the environment as well.
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