Summary of craft and gear used along the study area.

Traditional craft comprise Kattumarams or wooden rafts which are not powered by engines and are rowed out to sea. Small and big fibreglass reinforced plastic (FRP) boats are motorised craft powered by outboard engines of varying horsepower (HP). The mechanised craft comprise trawlers and vallams with more powerful inboard engines (S1 Fig). There is an overlap in the type of gear used by each category of fishing craft. Gill nets in particular varied in nomenclature according to the village resulting in a broad classification which comprises mono-filament and multi-filament nets and a small proportion of trammel nets. Similarly, trawl nets used by the motorised craft were considered “modified” trawls and variations of the ring seine were also observed. Large crew sizes particularly for lift nets, gill nets and trawl nets by the motorised craft indicate more than one boat per operation. Ring seines also involved collaborations among and between motorised fibreglass boats along with the mechanised larger craft called vallams.