Traditional craft operating from open beaches account for the bulk of fish landings on the east coast of India. The difficulties of operating from surf-beaten beaches, the technical limitations of the existing craft and the constraints they put upon the expansion of the fishery and upon the scope for improvement in the wellbeing of the fishermen have been described many times. The requirements for a craftof better performance and economicpotential are, briefly, that the new craft should have a surf-crossing performance comparable to that of the traditional kattumaram, with a minimum tendency to broach and capsize; it should be strong enough to withstand heavy landings on surf-beaten beaches, but at the same time be capable of easy and quick handling up and down the beach; and it should provide more protection for crew and catch than existing craft. Most important, it should possess greatercarrying capacity and be able to operate at greater distances from the coast in order to increase the catching potential, and these various requirements must be met without incurring added costs of construction and operation that would absorb all of any increase in earnings thus achieved.

The Bay of Bengal Programme designed and built a number of prototype beachcraft intended to meet these requirements and tested their surf-crossing and beachianding performance, as described in BOBP/WP/7: Technical Trials of Beachcraft Prototypes in India. The best of the orthodox boat designs, IND-13, wasselected for evaluation in commercial fishing conditions. This working paper describes the trials, and presents the results.