185
10 South Indian Trawl Fisheries – Assessing Their Governability
The temporal range of operations is determined by a governmental regulation
dictating that trawl fi shers are only permitted to leave port on three alternate days
per week (see Box 10.1 ). This implies that fi shing trips never exceed 24 h. As a
result, the spatial range of the trawlers is practically limited to the Palk Bay.
Demography
The population operating trawl vessels in the Palk Bay is remarkably heterogeneous
compared to other coastal areas in Tamil Nadu (Bavinck 2003 ) . Trawl fi shers are
diverse in terms of religious persuasion, caste, occupational and geographic origin,
and af fl uence. Muslims, Hindus and Christians are all involved, each grouping having distinct places of worship, rituals and festivals. Some have lived on the Bay for
generations, while others have moved in recently.
We distinguish between two basic types of people in trawl fi sheries: ‘traditional
fi shers’ who have inherited the profession and belong to a fi shing caste (such as
Paravar, Pattinavar or Mukkuvar), and ‘non-traditional fi shers’ who have entered the
occupation over the course of recent decades (Bavinck et al. 2008 ) . Although members of different castes often work together and attend each other’s festivals, the
general trend is one of segregation. Diversity is found not only at the individual or
the group level, but substantial variation can also be observed at the level of landing
centers. For example, some landing centers are populated by people of single caste
or religion, while others have a mixed character (Sathyapalan et al. 2007 ) .
Three points emerge from the discussion above. In terms of scale, it fi rst appears
that even though trawlers may regularly shift to other ports, fi shing activity is limited to the Palk Bay. Second, diversity is substantial at both the individual, group
and landing center level. In terms of dynamics, the incidence of migration and the
substantial increases in the number of trawlers over recent decades (but also their
decline in recent years) stand out the most.
Key Demands from the System-to-Be-Governed
For investigating the responsiveness of the governing system to the demands of the
system-to-be-governed, we now discuss four issues that threaten the sustainability
of the trawl fi sheries and have required continuous attention from governors over a
longer time period. These issues have been selected for their severity, but also for
representing different societal concerns, namely human security, social justice, ecosystem health, and economic viability.
Ecosystem Health: Over fi shing and Destructive Gears
In the section above, we mentioned the evidence that fi shery resources in the Palk
Bay are degrading. Although systematic research on this topic is still lacking, it is
10 South Indian Trawl Fisheries – Assessing Their Governability
The temporal range of operations is determined by a governmental regulation
dictating that trawl fi shers are only permitted to leave port on three alternate days
per week (see Box 10.1 ). This implies that fi shing trips never exceed 24 h. As a
result, the spatial range of the trawlers is practically limited to the Palk Bay.
Demography
The population operating trawl vessels in the Palk Bay is remarkably heterogeneous
compared to other coastal areas in Tamil Nadu (Bavinck 2003 ) . Trawl fi shers are
diverse in terms of religious persuasion, caste, occupational and geographic origin,
and af fl uence. Muslims, Hindus and Christians are all involved, each grouping having distinct places of worship, rituals and festivals. Some have lived on the Bay for
generations, while others have moved in recently.
We distinguish between two basic types of people in trawl fi sheries: ‘traditional
fi shers’ who have inherited the profession and belong to a fi shing caste (such as
Paravar, Pattinavar or Mukkuvar), and ‘non-traditional fi shers’ who have entered the
occupation over the course of recent decades (Bavinck et al. 2008 ) . Although members of different castes often work together and attend each other’s festivals, the
general trend is one of segregation. Diversity is found not only at the individual or
the group level, but substantial variation can also be observed at the level of landing
centers. For example, some landing centers are populated by people of single caste
or religion, while others have a mixed character (Sathyapalan et al. 2007 ) .
Three points emerge from the discussion above. In terms of scale, it fi rst appears
that even though trawlers may regularly shift to other ports, fi shing activity is limited to the Palk Bay. Second, diversity is substantial at both the individual, group
and landing center level. In terms of dynamics, the incidence of migration and the
substantial increases in the number of trawlers over recent decades (but also their
decline in recent years) stand out the most.
Key Demands from the System-to-Be-Governed
For investigating the responsiveness of the governing system to the demands of the
system-to-be-governed, we now discuss four issues that threaten the sustainability
of the trawl fi sheries and have required continuous attention from governors over a
longer time period. These issues have been selected for their severity, but also for
representing different societal concerns, namely human security, social justice, ecosystem health, and economic viability.
Ecosystem Health: Over fi shing and Destructive Gears
In the section above, we mentioned the evidence that fi shery resources in the Palk
Bay are degrading. Although systematic research on this topic is still lacking, it is