Socio-Economic Profile and Vulnerabilities Assessment in Small-Scale Fisheries of Lower Gangetic Flood Plain Wetland: An Initiative Towards Achieving Wetland Ecosystem Sustainability and Community Well-Being

Comments 1: On the one hand, the authors point out that inland fisheries play a significant role in food and nutrition security, poverty alleviation, women’s empowerment, socio-economic development of small and marginal fishermen, ecosystem services and, in particular, biodiversity protection.

At the same time, the authors indicate the grass carp (Ctenopharyngodonidella) as an ideal, economical tool for managing aquatic macrophytes, which has long-term effects and does not cause any negative side effects. In most countries, grass carp are considered a pest due to the destruction of underwater plants, which may shock the described ecosystem in the future. There is an extensive literature on this topic.The social situation described is crucial to ensuring the sustainable development and protection of this important ecosystem. It will be a valuable resource in the future. It will encourage participation and engagement, external organizations that can develop and implement effective management strategies that will benefit both the environment and the people who depend on it.

Response 1: Line 158-60 has been modified as “Management of macrophytes using grass carp is effective and affordable [37].”

The following sentences have been added to highlight the importance of grass carp for macrophytes management and fish production.  “Macrophytes are commonly available in floodplain wetlands supporting aquatic diversity, including fish. However, heavy infestation of macrophytes adversely impact the ecosystem (Schultz and Dibble, 2011) by competing with other primary producers like phytoplankton which is the main food for many plankton feeder fish, and disturbing fishing operations. Due to the infestation of macrophytes in wetlands of Indiait is often necessary for the removal of macrophytes for successful operation of fisheries. Biological control is preferred as compared to manual removal for its economic and environmental benefits. Grass carp is widely used in aquaculture and culture-based fisheries (CBF) to control macrophytes and enhancement of fish production (Karnatak et al., 2022). The grass carp will not able to further disturb the native fish diversity as the grass carp could not able to breed in a stagnant water including wetlands.”.

Schultz, R.; Dibble, E. Effects of invasive macrophytes on freshwater fish and macroinvertebrate communities: the role of invasive plant traits. Hydrobiologia 2011, 684 (1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0978-8.

Karnatak, G.; Das, B. K.; Sarkar, U. K.; Borah, S.; Roy, A.; Parida, P.; Lianthuamluaia, L.; Das, A. K.; Behera, B. K.; Pandit, A.; Sahoo, A. K.; Bhattacharjya, B. K.; Chakraborty, S.; Mondal, K.; Chandra, P. Integration of pen aquaculture into ecosystem-based enhancement of small-scale fisheries in a macrophyte dominated floodplain wetland of India. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 2022, 29 (50), 75431–75440. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21112-1.

Comments 1: Thank you for the opportunity to read this interesting article. Indeed, the study and development of local crafts can contribute to the sustainable development of regions. The manuscript is devoted to the study of the potential of small-scale fisheries in achieving sustainable development goals. The materials presented in the article are of great interest, but the authors need to work with the text of the article to make it more convincing. In particular, the authors touch on the gender aspect and argue that small-scale fishing contributes to the realization of women's rights. But by what mechanisms can this be achieved? In lines 265-277, the authors provide contradictory information about the functions of women in fishing, but do not indicate the sources of this information. This information is very interesting and the reader would like to have a clear understanding of the existing nature of the distribution of roles and the possibilities of redistributing functions to achieve greater economic impact and sustainable development goals.

Response 1: As advised by the esteemed reviewer, the lines 265-277 has been modified as follows

“The study found that women  are indirectly involved in wetland fisheries and support fishing activities by preparing and  mending nets (27%) and vending fish to markets (7.18%). About, 12% of women in the sampled households were involved in subsistence fishing by keeping traditional fishing traps like ghuni, chero, banka to collect Small Indigenous Fishes(SIF)s to feed their families. It was also reveled from the analysis of the data that 39% of the women of the sampled households use to collect aquatic organisms like molluscs, crabs and also aquatic plants from the wetland for their household consumption and to earn their livelihoods. Thus, the women  contribute to  household income and to the food and nutritional security. In other words, women's involvement in fishing activities may likely be higher than traditionally understood since much of their activityproviding for the household, is invisible (Fig. 7).Moreover, women's access to financial institutions, cooperative organizations, wholesale market,policies and schemes is often restricted and they are subject to violence.”

For better clarity, in discussion part the following sentences have been incorporated.

“Women has significant contribution in small-scale fisheries activities including production role(net repairing, SIF collection, fish seed collection, marketing,  etc), reproduction role (household cores,caregiving to old and children) and community role ( SHG group activities, social participation etc) (Roy et al,2023).”

“The 4th Principle of “Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries” by FAO,2015  states “Gender equality and equity are fundamental to any development… [and] Recognizing the vital role of women in SSF, equal rights and opportunities should be promoted”. Therefore, to attain SDG 5, The gender barriers should be identified and gender mainstreaming should be included into SSF development strategies, discrimination should be eradicated, equal rights and opportunities should be promoted, and women involved in SSF should be acknowledged (FAO,2015).”

Roy, A., Manna, R. K., Ghosh, S., Sahu, S. K., & Das, B. K. (2023). Assessment of women's contribution in small‐scale fisheries in Indian Sundarbans: Issues, strategies, and way forward for sustainability. Fisheries Management and Ecology, 30(4), 378-391.

FAO. (2015) Voluntary guidelines for securing sustainable small-scale fisheries in the context of food security and poverty eradication. Rome:Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), pp. 1–34.

Comments 2: It is not clear exactly why the authors claim that small-scale fishing contributes to the achievement of sustainable development goals, as opposed to industrial fishing. This is all the more surprising because it is in the conditions of industrial production that it is possible to contain environmental specialists who monitor the impact on the environment and thereby ensure the achievement of sustainable development goals. In conditions of small production, such control is difficult to carry out. Perhaps the peoples of India have some traditions that limit fishing and perform a control and regulatory function? If yes, then such information should be provided in the article.

Response 2: For better understanding the following sentences have been incorporated in the manuscript

“Small-scale fisheries are environment friendly as traditional craft and gears are used,discard less fish, have a lesser carbon footprint than industrial fisheries SSF and also have socio-cultural importance. Indian fisheries (about 81% ) is composed of small scale fisheries that provide employment, income, food and nutritional security to the rural populace of India( Das et al,2022). Religious and community belief often foster fish biodiversity conservation in India (Gupta et al,2016) as in Hinduism ‘Matsya’(Fish) is the first ‘Avatara’ of Lord Vishnu.(Das et al,2022).”

Das, B. K., Parida, P. K., DebRoy, P., and Roy, A. (2022). A Situational Analysis of Small-ScaleInland Open Water Fisheries in India: From Vulnerability to Viability. V2V Working Paper 2022-8. V2V Global Partnership, University of Waterloo, Canada

 V2V Working Paper 2022-8.

Gupta, N., Kanagavel, A., Dandekar, P, Dahanukar, N., Sivakumar, K., Mathur, V. B., & Raghavan, R. (2016). God's fishes: religion, culture and freshwater fish conservation in India. Oryx, 50(2), 244-249.

Comments 3: The authors need to more clearly differentiate the concepts of "fishing" and "fish farming", the article most often refers to the latter, since feed, pens, artificial insemination, and the release of juveniles are being used. Great care must be taken when discussing the benefits of individual fish species. In particular, the Amur white, due to its omnivorous nature, has caused the depletion of the ichthyofauna in many regions. Such phenomena cannot contribute to the achievement of sustainable development Goals. The article can be published after a little revision.

Response 3: In this context, "fishing" refers to harvesting of naturally available fish and the fish production obtained through culture-based fisheries (CBF), which involve stocking fish seed and later harvesting them after utilizing the natural food resources in the open wetland. In contrast, “fish farming” typically refers to raising fish in controlled environments, such as ponds, cages, or pens. In the present study, fish farming specifically refers to pen culture, where fish seed were reared for subsequent stocking or use in CBF.

In most of the cases “Fishing” was used in the manuscript as the study mostly deal with fishing.

Comments 1: The population data in Table 1 is too old. In today's rapid population growth, the data for the year 2011 is too old. This data seems not to be used in the following content.

Response 1: The 2021 census was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The next census is expected to begin in September 2024. Census 2011 is the latest data as of now.

Comments 2: Figure 1 is not clear enough. And is there any error in the legend in Figure 1? The whole combined shape of the water body and wetland is in the form of a river, and the proportion of the water body area is very small, and the wetland area is very big. Is it right.

Response 2: As it is a graphical representation, we just want to mark the position of the wetland in India as well as in West Bengal. The latitude and logitutde of the wetland mentioned in the figure.

Comments 3: Figure 15. and Table 8. embody low relevance with the previous findings of the article.  How to deduce the contents of the four aspects of SWOT analysis and  How to get the main drivers of Table 8  from the previous survey results?

Response 3: For better understanding of the SWOT analysis the following sentences have been incorporated

“SWOT (Strength, Weakness,Opportunity and threat) analysis was also done through a focussed group discussion method in the presences of community leaders and experts (Dyson, 2004). Strength is that aspect that makes the situation more promising, weakness is limitation within the situation that will prohibit it from accomplishing its objectives. Opportunities are any favourable perspective and threats are unfavourable conditions that are harming its capacity. Through focused group discussion, seven areas were identified for strength, seven areas for weakness, seven areas for opportunity and eight areas for threats were identified.”

Dyson, R.G. (2004), Strategic development and SWOT analysis at the University of Warwick, European Journal of Operational Research,152, pp. 631-640.

The main drivers were get through stakeholder’s approach. The sentences have been incorporated in the manuscript

“The drivers were identified through stakeholder’s approach, where the stakeholders analyze the major drivers of ecological, anthropogenic, social-ecological and technological vulnerabilities related to small-scale wetland fisheries and it’s impact.”

However, for keeping  Figure 15 and Table 8  in the manuscript the final decision may be taken by the esteemed reviewer and Editors.

Comments 1: The author added some sentences to describe SWOT analysis in the revised version. According to this description, the results of SWOT analysis come through a focussed group discussion method, not from the result of data collection. So The content of the whole manuscript is not interdisciplinary, so please modify the title to make it more appropriate to the content of the paper, For example, survey framework for social economic profile and SWOT analysis in small-scale fisheries of lower Gangetic flood plain wetland: an initiative towards community empowerment through Sustainable Wetland Management“

Response 1: The title of the article edited as “Survey framework for social economic profile and Vulnerabilities assessment in Small-Scale Fisheries of Lower Gangetic Flood Plain Wetland: An initiative towards community empowerment through sustainable wetland management”.

Comments 2: The author did not give a positive answer to the last Comments 2. The reviewer has reason to believe that there is something wrong with the right part of Figure 1 . Please delete it. You can zoom in to the two small figures on the left showing the geographical location..

Response 2: We edited the figure legends and the caption of Figure 1 in line number 121.