Adaptive Management and Welfare Enhancement of Kattudel Fishery in Negombo Lagoon

Abstract

"This paper presents a case study of Kattudel(stake-seine) fishery for catching fishery resources in Negombo Lagoon, Sri Lanka. The research aims to address fishery adaptation to tackle with the commons dilemma by introducing a padu system which is a gear-specific with rules to define fishing grounds and right holders. Among the right holders belonging to particular families, an effective mechanism has been evolved for resource sharing in the fishery over the hundreds of years dating back to the 18th century. Evidence from the case study showed that a nested structure of the fishery at the vertical level among stakeholders has been developed. For equity sharing of the resource, different fishing dates are assigned among four Kattudel fishery societies, and fishing grounds are then allocated to the right holders in each society using alottery. Complicated challenges and issues related to demarcation of territories and conflicting situations among the societies have been settled through active involvement of the Roman Catholic Church. The findings revealed that the role of the Roman Catholic Church served as a basis for coordinating the societies over fishery resources and introducing a welfare scheme for fishing communities. In the latter, afunding for the welfare scheme has been incorporated in the income generation process including auction for specific fishing grounds devised by each society. It enables to respond to livelihood security, in terms of death, loss of physical strength and unforeseeable accident, and to promote cultural development at the base of the Roman Catholic Church. Religious enhancement is expected to strengthen the fishery operation among the societies and among the right holders in each society. Based on these findings, this paper provides a significance of the linkages of adaptive management and welfare enhancement beyond the commons dilemma."