Spanish fish market.<sup>15</sup> Price data are daily for 2006 and 2007 and weekly during the period 2001-2005. Probably because the calamari is frozen and it can be stored, these prices do not vary significantly within a week and sometimes remain constant even within a month.<sup>16</sup> In addition, boat owners and their wives were surveyed in 2005 and 2007. The survey included questions on a wide variety of topics, such as socio-demographic characteristics, other sources of income, inventory of assets, income shocks, and savings along with a module about income targets.

We also collected data on the determinants of catches, including daily weather data from the closest Indian Meteorological Department station in Tuticorin, a town located approximately 20 kilometers away from the closest village, as depicted in Figure 2.

Finally, we collected data on the price of kerosene. Time series data on local prices are not available and so we rely on the real daily price at which kerosene is traded in Singapore, the closest international fuel market.<sup>17</sup> Table 1 depicts boat owners’ descriptive statistics using 2007 survey data. On average, boat owners are 42 years old, have approximately 5.6 years of education, and live with four other household members. Since all are married, one of their family members is their wife. In most cases, the other relatives are children, but few boat owners have extended family members living with them, such as in-laws, parents, or siblings. In all households, the boat owner’s earnings are the main source of income. However, there is usually another family member who works as well, typically their spouse, selling the fish in the local fish market that their husbands are unable to sell to merchants.

Boat owners’ daily gross average earnings are INR 1,076. Since the survey includes a few questions about the amount of their daily expenses on kerosene and laborers’ wages, we can get a rough estimate of their net daily income at INR 310 (roughly USD 6.50). Boat owners go fishing 73 percent of week days excluding Sundays or approximately 4 days a week.<sup>18</sup> In the analysis of Section 4 we use three different samples of boat-owner-weeks. The first (baseline sample) corresponds to all boat-owner-weeks when the boat owner went fishing at least one day during that week.<sup>19</sup> The second corresponds to all boat-owner-weeks

> 15They did not keep track of prices for other types of Indian fish because according to Mercabarna, the volume of trade was not significant enough.

> 16Fish Information and Services (FIS), a widely recognized consulting firm for global seafood industry information, reported that the vast majority of exported Indian fish (calamari, octopus, and cuttlefish) is sold in Europe. The rest of the exports, consisting mainly of tuna, is exported to East Asia and particularly Japan. (We tried to collect price data but we were unsuccessful.)

> 17Sources: US Energy Information Administration (fuel prices) and International Monetary Fund (Consumer Price Index and Exchange Rate).

> 18The following days are considered holidays: the first Friday of every month, January 1st and 6th, Good Friday (during Easter), August 15th (Independence Day), December 3rd, 21st and 25th.

> 19Sundays are excluded because there is no fish market and boat owners never go fishing. The sample also

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