Analysis of Financial Performance and Environmental Sustainability of Coldwater Inland Fisheries in Sikkim Himalaya


 This paper analyses the financial performances in terms of productivity and profitability indices and environmental sustainability with regards to Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) through the application of the Gordon-Schaefer Model for the coldwater Primary Fishermen Cooperative Society (PFCS). For this purpose, data has been collected from the secondary sources for the periods 2013-14 to 2018-19. The panel data analysis was carried out to derived the results using the method of ordinary least squares. The study found that PFCS such as Sribadam, Maneybong-Sopakha and Mangshilla have performed better in financial management but there is a probability of thread of sustainability in the future because in some of the periods their actual yield surpasses the MSY. On the other hand, PFCS like Rimbik, Chujachen and Dalep have not been able to bring their financial performances up to the mark because they were more concerned for sustainability. Excessive extraction of fishes from the water bodies for higher profit motive may lead to less availability for the coming generations. The study suggests that in aquaculture or fish farming, there should maintain an equilibrium between financial benefits and environmental sustainability and the resource should be utilised on a sustainable basis.


Introduction
The Himalayan regions have the largest biological diversity in the world characterised by the presence of coldwater many of which harbor fish and largely support subsistence, ornamental and commercial fisheries [1]. In the Himalayas, the fish diversity comprises a large population of indigenous and exotic, cultivable and non-cultivable fish species having the potential for aquaculture practices, capture fisheries and sport fishing [2][3][4][5]. The different fish species such as trout (rainbow and brown trout) and carp (grass carp, common carp, Chinese carp, and some species of Indian carp) are the major cultivable fishes of the coldwater [1].
Sikkim is a mountainous state endowed with numerous coldwater resources in the forms of lakes, streams, perennial springs, rivers, reservoirs, etc. which support both capture and culture fisheries in the upland and lowland regions. Due to the hilly terrain, agriculture and other allied activities are not sufficient for rural livelihood; therefore, fish farming has become an important source of livelihood and earnings for the rural people. To utilise the available water resources fruitfully and to develop capture and culture fishery, people have taken the initiative to make fish farming their subsidiary occupation and feel the urge to develop local water resources on a sustainable basis fish farming through the formation of the cooperatives [6]. Under these cooperatives there are 102 members; 73 members are associated with trout farming while 29 members belong to carp farming. The main motives behind the formation of fishermen cooperative societies in Sikkim were to increase the level of fish production, generate employment opportunities and ensure a sustainable source of livelihood, raise adequate revenue for reinvestment and manage and conserve the fisheries resources on a sustainable basis.
Some of the research undertaken in the context of environmental sustainability and management of fishery resources are discussed below. Ajayi [7] estimated the MSY of the inshore fish and shrimp resources by using Schaefer's and exponential models for the periods 1965-1972. The study found that the MSY value for fish caught below 40 m and 50 m were 11684.09 and 13742.35 mt for 50000 ha and 55000 ha fishing respectively. For shrimp, the estimated MSY was 2008.02 tonnes. It was also observed that the inshore fishery had the probability for further expansion but on the other hand, the shrimp resources have been fully exploited under the prevailing circumstances. Devaraj [8] [9] analysed the bioeconomic conditions of commercially exploited marine fishes for assessing 4 their sustainability in the context of existing management practices. MSY, MEY and open access levels of yield and effort were analysed using Gompertz-Fox growth model. The study concluded that the fishing effort exceeded the economically optimal levels and there is unnecessary wastage of money, manpower and fuel in the fishing industry. The study stressed the urgent need for capture fisheries management in the State which at present follows an openaccess fishery where regulations exist only in the form of seasonal closure in the monsoon season. The allocation of effort among fishing gears is as important as controlling effort concerning both sustainable yield and ecosystem management. Differences in age-specific vulnerability to the fishing method can modify the MSY that is obtainable from fish stock.
Different gears or methods are more or less selective for the species targeted, and MSY is rarely, if ever, attainable simultaneously for all species. The different fishing methods capture different types of non-target species. Some methods will often be more profitable than others, and different user groups will prefer different methods. In many fisheries, it is unlikely that fishing can be limited to a single gear or method, so compromises among them will be required, Maunder [10]. Bhattacharya and Gupta [11] analyse the fish biodiversity of Digha fishery in Eastern India with empirical analysis. They studied the loss of biodiversity due to water pollution and the resultant impact on the fish harvested. These twin problems have been addressed simultaneously and modeled in an aggregate Gordon-Schaefer model for the Digha fishery. An economic biodiversity index and a variable for environmental quality have been included modifying the aggregate Gordon-Schaefer model. For estimating the parameters of the model, the Schnute method has been used. They focus on the dynamics of the profit maximising regime and explore the dynamic MEY and the net present value of profit by fishery is maximised. The small variation in discount rates and intrinsic growth rates have been done as a part of sensitivity analysis and their impact on optimal profit has been examined. This has been done under different biodiversity scenarios. They found that in the case of the Digha 5 fishery, there exists a trade-off between economic biodiversity conservation and profit maximisation. Their study suggested that the government should framework the policy measures to minimise the level of conflict between them.
Fishery resources are renewable natural resources but natural stocks of fish have been decreasing day by day because of the rapid explosion of the human population and the resultant persistent and indiscriminate fish harvest [12,13]. Besides these, excessive extraction of fishes from water bodies for speedy and higher returns has resulted in disbalances in ecology and sustainability [14]. In this context, this paper attempts to evaluate the financial performances in terms of productivity and profitability, assess environmental sustainability and examine the trade-off between the financial performances and environmental management of the PFCS.

Materials and methods
The study is based on secondary data collected for six yr i.

Evaluation of financial performances of PFCS
The productivity and profitability analyses are the major ways of assessing or evaluating the feasibility or viability of an investment. Before making any investment in aquaculture, it is very crucial to assess whether the proposed investment yields positive returns or not [15]. The higher the profit, the greater is the scope for its reinvestment and the expansion of its 6 functioning [14]. Therefore, to evaluate the investment in fish farming is worthwhile and feasible or not we have calculated productivity and profitability ratios [14, [14]. In this context, the study analyses whether the PFCS's annual fish catch lies below the MSY or falls in the borderline case, or surpasses it becomes very crucial. The environmental sustainability of the different cooperative societies is examined by using the concept of MSY through the application of the Gordon-Schaefer Model [7,12,14]. According to Schaefer's model, catch per unit of effort (Y/E) is assumed to be proportional to the density of fish. The density of fish is supposed to be proportional to stock whereby the harvest level is written as Y = qEX, where q represents the catchability coefficient. This is known as the Gordon-Schaefer production function. The effort index is defined as the fishing labour cost (rearing and  negative and the rate of productivity was also less than 1 during those periods. The Government refinanced and provided economic and technical support for its quick resuscitation.

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In 20 th Chujachen, production was lowest in the yr 2016-17 and declined for the periods 2015-16 and 2016-17 due to some biological causes. However, there was less variability in productivity and profitability of the society over the periods due to the hike in prices. Similarly, for Dalep, there was less variation in profitability and productivity ratios. This cooperative had the lowest level of fish production compared to others because it has fewer fish farmers and ponds with water scarcity. Note: ***, ** and * indicates the significance levels at 1%, 5 % and 10 % respectively. In the restricted model as shown in Table 3, the effort is significant at 5% level with its expected sign. The negative value of b̂ implies that for a unit increase in the effort level the estimated average yield per unit of effort falls by 19.07 units. The F statistic is significant at 5% level and the estimated equation is found to be a good fit.
Also, in the unrestricted model (Table 3), the effort is significant with its expected sign.
More interestingly dummy variable is also statistically significant, which indicates that the species-specific effect exists on the level of effort as well as on the harvest level. This is quite natural because, firstly, trout is a very high-value nutritional species. Secondly, trout culture has been promoted extensively by the government. Thirdly, fishermen prefer trout culture compared to carp due to high profitability. The estimated mean yield per unit of the effort of the trout fish is 116.84 kg while that of the carp fish is lower by 29.86 kg, i.e. 87 kg (given in Table 4). The value of R 2 and F indicates that the model is rather a good fit. Source: Author's estimation Note: ***, ** and * indicate the significance levels at 1%, 5 % and 10 % respectively and figures within the brackets represent the t-statistics 13 Based on the result obtained from the LSDV model (Table 3), MSY for trout and carp growers PFSC has been calculated separately ( Table 4) Considering the case of Upper Rimbik, their actual yield is lower than the MSY in all the yr and the ratio of actual yield to MSY is also less as compared to the previous two societies.
The mean actual yield is rather low at 112.08 and the mean absolute deviation of the ratio from 1 is 0.4474 indicating that on an average 55.26% is harvested leaving 44.74% for a future stock generation.

Conclusions
It can be concluded from the above results that PFCS such as Upper Sribadam, Manebong -Sopakha and Mangshilla had been obtained higher financial achievements in fish farming; at the same time, there is a threat of sustainability because in some of the yr the actual yield surpasses the MSY. These cooperatives have paid more attention to profit generations and relatively less to environmental sustainability. On the other hand, PFCS like Upper Rimbik, Chujachen and Dalep have not been able to keep their financial management up to the mark but then they had given more concern to sustainability and maintained a relatively substantial amount for the future generations as compared to the former three cooperatives. Their actual yield is less than the MSY in all the periods. More financial gains like more productivity and profitability mean more extraction of existing resources implying less scope of regeneration for the future which indicates a trade-off between the financial management and environmental sustainability of resources. It is to be noted that although sustainability is maintained by the cooperatives, there is a lack of stability in the sustainability factor as is evident from the observed fluctuations in the considered ratio of actual yield to MSY. Nevertheless, positive returns from investment in fisheries are very essential for proper functioning and reinvestment for the succeeding periods but coldwater fish species in the Himalayas have been greatly shrunk due to manmade activities and natural factors resulting in the degradation of ecology. Hence, it has become very crucial to conserve, manage and utilize resources on a sustainable basis.

Availability of data and materials
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this article. The raw data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Competing interests
The authors (KBC and RK) declared they have no competing interests.