Kerala project: mobile phones and fisheries

A research project was conducted 2013-2014 among the stakeholders and roleplayers of the Kerala (India) fisheries industry. The purpose of this research was to investigate claims that, while at ocean, mobile phones were being used by fishermen to determine best market prices and then take their catch there.

These two papers report on the results of this research:

• Steyn, J., Das, M. (2015). Claims of mobile phone use by Kerala fishermen not support by fieldwork. In Steyn, J., Van Greunen, D. (Eds.). ICTs for inclusive communities in developing societies: 107-142. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• Steyn, J. (2016). A Critique of the Claims About Mobile Phones and Kerala Fisherman. The Importance of the Context of Complex Social Systems
  The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, Vol 74
  ISSN: 1681-4835 www.ejisdc.org

This website presents background information, information too bulky to include in the papers, as well as photo evidence of our research project.

Photos visually illustrate the context of fishing in Kerala, India. They serve as visual evidence for the context of fishing practices in general, and the landing centres we visited. Photos are grouped by boat landing centres, as well as by themes.

Content

Background information

• Citations for research about mobile phones and Kerala fishermen
• Craft types
• On Jensen and his sources
• Sources consulted

India, Kerala

• The states of India - map
• Kerala State, India - map
• Places - mentioned in primary research, or important references
• Bathymetric map of Kerala cost
• South Coast - centres where fieldwork was conducted (in alphabetical order)
  • Kovalam (Thiruvananthapuram District - listed as fishing village and landing centre)
  • Neendakara (Kollam District - listed as fishing village and landing centre)
  • Quilon Port (or Kollam) (Kollam District - listed as fishing village and landing centre)
  • Thottappally (Alappuzha District - listed as fishing village and landing centre)
  • Valiathura (or Valiyathura) (Thiruvananthapuram District - listed as fishing village and landing centre)
  • Varkala (Thiruvananthapuram District - not listed as fishing village and landing centre)
  • Vizhinjam (Thiruvananthapuram District - listed as fishing village and landing centre)
• North Coast - centres where fieldwork was conducted (in alphabetical order)
  • Beypore (Kozhikode District - listed as fishing village and landing centre)
  • Chavakkad (Thrissur District - not listed as fishing village and landing centre)
  • Kochi / Cochin (Ernakulam District - listed as landing centre)
    Vypin (or Vypeen) at Kochi (Ernakulam District)
    • Kalamukku (Ernakulam District - listed as landing centre)
    • Munambam at Vypin (Ernakulam District - listed as fishing village and landing centre)
    • Nyarambalam
    • Sri Gosreepuram (Ernakulam District - not listed as fishing village and landing centre)
    • Thoppumpady at Vypin (Ernakulam District - not listed as fishing village and landing centre)

Fish

• Kerala fish species

The states of India

This map shows the states of India. Kerala is on the far southwest coast. "Kerala" is spelled "Kelala" on this map.

Source: unknown.

Kerala State, India

This map shows the districts of the state of Kerala.

Source: unknown

All photos were taken by either Mohan Das, Jacques Steyn, or Charlotta Snyman.

Most maps are from Google, and acknowledged. Some maps were sourced from the internet, but no copyright statements could be found. Search engine return lists of maps also often do not indicate the source of the image, only the source of the URL. In many such cases, the source "borrowed" the image from another unacknowledged source.

© Jacques Steyn 2014