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10 South Indian Trawl Fisheries – Assessing Their Governability
governability. Many scholars have emphasized the need for such a match (e.g. Ebbin
2002 ; Young 2002 ; Folke et al. 2007 ) , but an approach to systematically assess
match in a system that includes social and natural aspects has yet to be proposed.
Building on interactive governance and governability assessment literature, this
chapter has developed a perspective for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of
match by posing four key questions. Its utility can be evaluated on the basis of its
subsequent application to the Palk Bay trawl fi sheries.
Q1: To what extent does the scale of the natural system-to-be-governed, socialeconomic system-to-be - governed and governing system coincide, and what is the
nature of the linkages between the different governing system actors?
In terms of architectural compatibility, we identi fi ed mismatches at two levels.
First, the natural and social boundaries of the system-to-be-governed – the entire
Palk Bay – do not correspond with the operational range of the various governing
actors. While trawlers operate both in Indian and Sri Lankan waters, these waters
are subjected to different legal regimes. Although this chapter has focused on the
situation pertaining to the Indian side of the Palk Bay, it is clear that the Palk Bay
requires a transnational approach. As Vivekanandan (n.d.: p89) put forth, ‘From a
pure resource management perspective (ignoring the civil war and politics), only a
joint management by India and Sri Lanka can ensure proper exploitation and
conservation’. Such an alignment would indeed be an important step towards overcoming the discrepancy in scale.
There are, however, architectural mismatches on the Indian side of the Bay too.
On the Indian side, trawl fi shers are subjected to a variety of governing regimes,
each with their own mandates, capacities and ranges. Although there is nothing
wrong with a diversity of governors or with the fact that scales do not coincide,
these discrepancies must be addressed through linkages and coordination. Our analysis demonstrates that linkages between the different governing systems, if present
at all, are mostly ad hoc and non-formalized. Creating institutional convergence is
certainly not easy or built overnight, especially under conditions of legal pluralism
(Jentoft et al. 2009 ) . They nevertheless remain important for the achievement of
effective governance at the Palk Bay level.
Q2: To what extent do the available governing systems possess qualities of sensitivity and fl exibility required for dealing with diversity and dynamics in the systemto-be-governed?
Next we considered the attunement between the governing system and systemto-be-governed. First, we asked whether the governing system possessed sensitive
and fl exible qualities to deal with the high levels of diversity and dynamics prevalent in the sector. We addressed this question by looking at the nature of the linkages
between the system-to-be-governed and the governing system, which provided a
mixed picture. While interactions are frequent and linkages are in place, especially
at the level of the FD and policy, the absence of an institutionalized platform for
interaction, joint problem analysis and monitoring stands out. This subsequently
bears upon the capacity of the governing system to properly respond to the demands
in the system-to-be-governed.
10 South Indian Trawl Fisheries – Assessing Their Governability
governability. Many scholars have emphasized the need for such a match (e.g. Ebbin
2002 ; Young 2002 ; Folke et al. 2007 ) , but an approach to systematically assess
match in a system that includes social and natural aspects has yet to be proposed.
Building on interactive governance and governability assessment literature, this
chapter has developed a perspective for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of
match by posing four key questions. Its utility can be evaluated on the basis of its
subsequent application to the Palk Bay trawl fi sheries.
Q1: To what extent does the scale of the natural system-to-be-governed, socialeconomic system-to-be - governed and governing system coincide, and what is the
nature of the linkages between the different governing system actors?
In terms of architectural compatibility, we identi fi ed mismatches at two levels.
First, the natural and social boundaries of the system-to-be-governed – the entire
Palk Bay – do not correspond with the operational range of the various governing
actors. While trawlers operate both in Indian and Sri Lankan waters, these waters
are subjected to different legal regimes. Although this chapter has focused on the
situation pertaining to the Indian side of the Palk Bay, it is clear that the Palk Bay
requires a transnational approach. As Vivekanandan (n.d.: p89) put forth, ‘From a
pure resource management perspective (ignoring the civil war and politics), only a
joint management by India and Sri Lanka can ensure proper exploitation and
conservation’. Such an alignment would indeed be an important step towards overcoming the discrepancy in scale.
There are, however, architectural mismatches on the Indian side of the Bay too.
On the Indian side, trawl fi shers are subjected to a variety of governing regimes,
each with their own mandates, capacities and ranges. Although there is nothing
wrong with a diversity of governors or with the fact that scales do not coincide,
these discrepancies must be addressed through linkages and coordination. Our analysis demonstrates that linkages between the different governing systems, if present
at all, are mostly ad hoc and non-formalized. Creating institutional convergence is
certainly not easy or built overnight, especially under conditions of legal pluralism
(Jentoft et al. 2009 ) . They nevertheless remain important for the achievement of
effective governance at the Palk Bay level.
Q2: To what extent do the available governing systems possess qualities of sensitivity and fl exibility required for dealing with diversity and dynamics in the systemto-be-governed?
Next we considered the attunement between the governing system and systemto-be-governed. First, we asked whether the governing system possessed sensitive
and fl exible qualities to deal with the high levels of diversity and dynamics prevalent in the sector. We addressed this question by looking at the nature of the linkages
between the system-to-be-governed and the governing system, which provided a
mixed picture. While interactions are frequent and linkages are in place, especially
at the level of the FD and policy, the absence of an institutionalized platform for
interaction, joint problem analysis and monitoring stands out. This subsequently
bears upon the capacity of the governing system to properly respond to the demands
in the system-to-be-governed.