author(s)
Pabitra Sarmah

abstract
This study was carried out in Subansiri River, Assam from January 2014 to December 2014. Through this investigation, the socio-economic condition of fishers was analysed. A total sample of respondents was 346 fishers. Investigation on socio-economic status of fishers from Subansri river revealed that out of 346 fishers 97.7% were literate, 83.8% married, 91.9% males fishers, 71.6% Hindu community fishers, 6.6% occasional fishers, 39.1% fishers belonged to age group between 26-35 years, 51.7% of fishers working as farmer for other earning apart from fishing, 87.6% fishers had kaccha ghar, 96.2% fishers didn’t have good sanitation condition, 46.5% respondents caught upto 5 kg of fishes individually daily and 64.7% of fishers were flood affected. The ratio of male to female was 55.9: 44.1 and the average family size was 6.20 members. In the Subansri River the fishing activities took place throughout the year during. There was usually less fishing during floods and late part of the winter season. The full-time fishers fished for 8 months and catch 1.2 – 3.5 kg per day. The 121 professional temporary fishers generally fished 2-4 months per year and were labourers, mechanics, a few businessmen and a few job holders. The fish catches ranged between 0.5 and 1.7 kg per person with an average catch of 99 kg per person per year. Basically, occasional fishers were non-fisher groups and fished for recreation. Such groups fished 2-10 times per year and caught 0.3-0.7 kg per day, with an average of 15 kg per person per year for consumption.