The development of world fisheries recently has been characterized by rapid expansion of total output and volume of trade. This has encouraged coastal nations to expand the production capacity of their fisheries to service the international market for marine products. This has led to an emphasis on growth oriented comparative advantage approaches involving large-scale projects, modern capital intensive technology, and heavy injections of foreign and national capital. One result of this activity has been to transfer priority away from production for local markets to production for international export. This project examines how these global level economic processes have affected local fishing communities in coastal India. Specifically, research will center on how the introduction of large-scale mechanization and shifts in local production and marketing priorities have affected petty traders in terms of their ability to participate in the fish economy of two local communities in Kerala state. Data will be collected through interviews, observations of market transactions and activities, and from archival records. These data will form the basis of a comparative study of market arrangements in the two districts before and after the introduction of mechanized technology. The disruption of long established local economies through their integration into the global economy has often had profound effects on the livelihoods of local producers and traders. This research will highlight these impacts in a region which is being rapidly influenced by forces of change in the global fishing industry. It will merge social and economic processes with spatial factors into a single analytical framework for analysis of local variation in economic development as a direct result of changes in the world economy.
