This paper published in the Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge makes an attempt to record the fisheries related indigenous technological knowledge in terms of fishing crafts and gears used in river Krishna.
Application of crafts and gear in fishery is a result of experiences gained over a long period of time. Every water body has its unique pattern of crafts and gears. There is a well defined pattern and distribution of fishing techniques in the riperian sector based on topography, ecology and habitat of the resource available.
This Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) continues to be less documented in the freshwater sector of Krishna river in South India. This paper is an attempt to document the commonly used crafts and gears along the entire stretch of the Krishna.
For this, fisheries data along with information on fishing crafts and gears was collected from selected 24 stations along the entire stretch of river Krishna from Mahauli in upstream up to Penumudi, an esturine fish landing centre of river Krishna.
As many as 6 different types of crafts and 10 different gear were encountered during the monsoon survey of the river. The crafts were coracle, plank built boat, palm canoe, thermocol raft, rubber tube platform and banana stem raft. The gears were gill net, cast net, drag net, push net (triangular), scoop net, ring net, hook and line, lantern net (light trap), box trap and cradle trap.
In both fishing crafts and gears, traditional materials were still prevalent even in this era of mechanisation. Diversity was observed in gears to exploit all elements of the fish community, despite the dominance of gill nets. All these crafts and gears indicated the creativity of the fishermen.
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