Abstract
As fisheries generally take place in a common pool resource in which exclusion is by definition difficult, they are a unique entry point to investigating the inclusive development concept. This article discusses the debates and interactions between owners of mechanized fishing boats in Chennai, India, over entry into their ocean fisheries. For the time period under consideration (1995-2014), we demonstrate that the discussion over social boundaries to the profession continued unabated, with moderate and more extreme views alternating and poorer owners standing opposed to the boat-owning elite. Interactive governance theory provides the framework of analysis. We conclude that governors – whether of the state or of the fishing population – need to balance between different policy objectives and between the imperatives of inclusion and exclusion to improve governability.
Abstract
Etant donné que la pêche implique généralement une ressource commune qui par definition rend l’exclusion difficile, elle est un point d’entrée unique pour enquêter sur le concept de développement inclusif. Cet article examine les débats et les interactions entre les propriétaires de bateaux de pêche mécanisés à Chennai, en Inde, à propos de l’entrée dans le domaine de la pêche en haute mer. Au cours de la période observée (1995-2014), nous démontrons que la discussion sur les frontières sociales à la profession SE poursuit sans relâche, avec des vues modérées alternant avec des vues plus extrêmes et les propriétaires les plus pauvres s’opposant à l’élite propriétaire de bateaux. La théorie de la gouvernance interactive fournit un cadre d’analyse. Nous concluons que les gouverneurs – qu’ils soient ceux de l’Etat ou ceux de la communauté de pêcheurs – doivent trouver un équilibre entre différents objectifs politiques et entre les impératifs de l’intégration ainsi que de l’exclusion pour améliorer la gouvernabilité.
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Notes
The Blue Revolution that took place in many developing countries saw the rise of industrial capture fisheries and aquaculture (Bailey, 1985; Platteau, 1989).
An early version of this paper was presented by the first author at the IASC conference in Bloomington, Indiana, in 2000.
Benda-Beckmann et al (2006, p. 15) point out that the metaphor ‘bundle of rights’ includes the understanding that any ownership consists of a separable number of rights. Schlager and Ostrom (1993) have elaborated on this perspective for fisheries. Ribot and Peluso (2003, p. 159) suggest that actors’ power over access to natural resources can be disaggregated into various means of control and maintenance, and thus consists of ‘bundles of power’.
According to government rules, mechanized boats should not be longer than 20 metres (approx. 65 ft.), and have an engine of less than 150 HP.
Benami indicates a relationship in which a piece of property is nominally registered in someone else’s name, to conceal the facts of ownership.
The ‘broadening’ of caste consciousness to include all marine fishers in one category is connected to aspirations of caste mobility and what Fuller (2003) calls the ‘politics of caste reservations’. The Pattinavar are keenly aware of the achievements of, for example, the Nadar caste in collectively realizing upward mobility, and of state reservation policy, which provides support for members of lower castes. By joining up with other marine fishing castes in the state, many Pattinavar believe that they will develop a stronger political position.
The social critique of pair trawling and ring seining is that these techniques allow a limited number of people to make exorbitant profits while denying others the possibility to make a decent living (cf. Bavinck and Karunaharan, 2006).
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Bavinck, M., Karuppiah, S. & Jentoft, S. Contesting Inclusiveness: The Anxieties of Mechanised Fishers Over Social Boundaries in Chennai, South India. Eur J Dev Res 27, 589–605 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2015.46
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2015.46