Conditions for Governance of Tenure in Lagoon-Based Small-Scale Fisheries, India

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This chapter begins by confirming that issues around tenure within lagoon-based small-scale fisheries context have largely been neglected. Despite a growing body of literature on lagoon commons and property rights systems, existing literature on marine and terrestrial tenure tend to subsume tenure issues of coastal lagoons. Lack of specific attention to lagoon tenure can potentially affect their long-term sustainability and further marginalize small-scale fishers that have depended on them for generations. This chapter identifies important challenges associated with lagoon tenure in relation to the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines), particularly focusing on its provisions for responsible governance of tenure. The tenure provisions in the SSF Guidelines highlight that small-scale fishing communities need to have secure tenure rights to resources that form the basis for their social, economic, and cultural wellbeing, and that the state should recognize and ensure such rights. To this effect, the chapter sets forth some of the key conditions for governance of tenure in the context of lagoon small-scale fisheries social-ecological systems through an extensive treatment of a broad range of fishers’ rights and multi actor responsibilities. Fisher experiences with the impacts of ongoing rapid social-ecological changes on lagoon tenure and community responses in Chilika Lagoon, Bay of Bengal, India region is used as a case. Data analyzed in this chapter comes from a series of workshops, meetings, and consultations with small-scale fishers and other stakeholders in Chilika. The chapter offers important lessons for governance of lagoon tenure by highlighting its key connections with resource systems, resource sectors, and user-level dynamics, to offer insights on possible institutional and governance arrangements around secure lagoon tenure. Further, it provides suggestions and reflections on the specific characteristics of lagoon small-scale fisheries tenure and possible future directions for governance. Despite its specific focus on lagoon systems, the main learnings about the key conditions, characteristics, and governance directions of small-scale fisheries tenure provides crucial insights on successful implementation of the SSF Guidelines, especially its tenure provisions.