‘The Slaves of Water’: Socio-cultural Construction of the Community- based Coastal Resource Management in the South-eastern Bangladesh
Apurba Krishna Deb 1
Abstract
The hereditary Hindu ‘ Jaladas ’ (literally ‘slaves of water’) caste-based fishers, a socio- politically secluded ecological community, developed and reshaped their resource and territorial management practices tuned to ethno-ecological knowledge, hydro-geological conditions, cultural heritage, value-systems and economic well-being through a long interaction with their immediate environment. This study, based on extensive participatory field works in coastal fishing villages of Cox’sBazar district, Bangladesh for around twenty months, examines how locally crafted diverse management institutions survived for several decades, with special focus on ‘faar’ management system. Based on generally accepted values and operational clarities, such age-old institutions manage fishing entitlements through exercising set of rules. ‘Faar’ system is widely prevalent among ‘estuarine and marine set bag net’ (E/MSBN) and gill net operators targeting seasonally available commercial species. The scope, principles, and temporal and spatial variations of fishing entitlements are described. This study also examines the relevant socio-cultural constructions of the rural institutions and fishing in pretty details.
Key words: Bangladesh, traditional fishers, fishing entitlement, resource management, artisanal fishery
1. Background:
Bangladesh is rich in aquatic resources; it is the uniquely located largest active deltaic region of the world and an expanded floodplain with the confluence and immense influence of three mighty rivers- Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna (GBM) that merge in her plain before entering the Bay of Bengal. Her richness in aquatic ecosystems and resources therein enabled rural ‘working class’ population to be engaged in fishing for sustenance and livelihoods for whole or part of the year since time immemorial. Graced by her huge water body, fishery plays a very significant role in terms of nutrition, employment, foreign exchange earning and food supply. Evidences of fishing are found among the prehistoric artefacts (Allchin and Allchin 1982, Sarker 1984, Reeves 2003), in the artefacts of the ‘Harappan’ pottery, motif and civilization of the Indus Valley (Piggott 1950, Allchin and Allchin 1982, Bagchi 1955) and ‘Asokan’ epigraphical materials (Hora 1950, Thaper 1961). Religious texts also mention of fish and fishing.
1 Natural Resources Institute, Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth and Resources University of Manitoba, 319 Sinott Building, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Telephone: 204-275-5492 (Res.)/204-474-9455 (W), Fax: 204-261-0038 Email: [email protected]
1 Artisanal fishery illustrates a unique complex and dynamic case of human-in-nature systems. It is a major concern worldwide (Lawson 1978, Acheson 1981, Kurien 1996, Pauly et al. 1998, Berkes et al. 2001, Bene et al. 2004, Kooiman et al. 2005, Johnson 2006) from the view points of social justice, sustainability, poverty and resource governance, and in many cases, the dwindling status of artisanal fishery threatened biodiversity, livelihoods and food security of the dependent population, possibly irreversibly. In the south eastern parts of Bangladesh, coastal fishers have evolved sets of practices for management of the aquatic resources and maintaining control over the territories that are fundamental to their very existence and livelihoods. For fisheries governance aimed at promoting social and ecological sustainability, artisanal fisheries may be the most useful for political argument at the global level (Johnson 2006). The critical importance of the artisanal fisheries in Bangladesh can be speculated from the fact that almost whole aspects of floodplain fisheries is traditional and >90% of the marine catch is derived from this fishery, while the remainder is contributed by export oriented industrial fishery. The artisanal fisheries in Bangladesh are characterized by both quantitative and qualitative attributes: simple to complex craft and gear operations, almost zero to high capital involvement, individual to group ownership, social or caste identity, social and economic reciprocity and coercive dependence on network relationships and institutions, manual to motorized crafts an highly diverse gears, few hours to few days of operation, highly dispersed fishing areas, seasonality, various degrees of livelihood dependence, household consumption to international marketing, distinct gender roles, cultural and religious rituals, fishing pressures, low to high catch rate and targeted species, low earnings and general prevalence of poverty among fishers. In both academic and policy level arena, artisanal fishery and fishers remained widely neglected for decades.
These artisanal fishers can be termed as a 'repository of valuable knowledge about the dynamic nature of fisheries resources and ecosystem'. The economy of these fishers is mostly subsistence 2 oriented, though a section of them run on commercial venture. The coastal ecological communities of the Bengal delta have developed and reshaped their cultural heritage, value-systems and economic well-being through a long interaction with their immediate environment. The fishers as an ecological community depend largely on the freshwater and marine fisheries resources for survival and for that they developed unique heritage of ethno-ecological knowledge base that remained largely ignored by the fishery scientists. This study will reveal that ethnicity and hereditary experience still plays an important role in resource conservation and management. One of the root- causes of management and institutional inefficiency in fisheries is attributed to the fact that knowledge of and links with the complexity of the real life of recipients were virtually minimal or non-existent in most of the development efforts. There is a serious need for
2 Subsistence fishing or fishers are little known as fishing literature largely dealt with biological issues avoiding human dimensions, and are largely ignored or blithely acknowledged by policy makers also. Subsistence itself is a magic word with multiple connotations and contextual meanings. Schumann and Macinko (2007) argue that defining subsistence is difficult and must be a context driven exercise. In the context of rural Bengal, I define subsistence fishing as a mode of production intended to fulfill basic survival needs usually with typical coercive or reciprocal production relations and cultural orientation mediated within complex social-nature relationships. Both subsistence fishing and fishers are characterized by resilience, labour-absorption, indigenous knowledge, poverty and chaotic management.
2 exploring ‘indigenous knowledge’ (IK) which is deeply anchored on the down to earth local socio-economic fabric and hence enjoys wide social acceptability.
Human civilization in the last two decades witnessed a heightened interest in knowing and seeking support from the rural people, who are now labeled as ‘indigenous knowledge holders and practitioners’. Once known as the domain of ethno-biologists and cultural anthropologists, scholars from multiple disciplines have started exploring people’s knowledge for fulfilling objectives like documentation, indigenous rights movement, community based natural resource management, empowerment, political and institutional structures, policy revision and bottom-up rural development (Ostrom 1990, Bromley 1991, Grenier 1998, Sillitoe, 1998, Uphoff 1998, Berkes 1999, Johannes 2002, Ramkrishnan 2005 ). The approaches and objectives of exploring common people’s knowledge and practices are not only ‘human-centered’, but also ‘humanity oriented’. We are now in a historical interface when the growing challenges of social and economic sustainability of natural resource management and embedded livelihood dependencies of user communities are manifested globally. The intimacy of the human- nature relations and the means of livelihoods centering the nature are such that resource users develop a peculiar set of knowledge base on attributes like the resources, ecological conditions and dynamics therein in a given socio-cultural context. There are inherent capabilities of local knowledge to be translated practically and fundamentally into alternative approaches to relations with and management of natural resources with a much greater capacity to self-direct and self-manage, thereby empowering them through provision of control over core factors in their lives and livelihoods (Davis and Wagner 2003).
The use of local knowledge in development planning has only been registered in recent years ( Raychaudhury 1980, Warren et al . 1999, Grenier 1998, Berkes 1999, Berkes and Folke 2000, Mathooko 2005). The use of IK in fisheries lags behind that in agriculture, but has a 25-year history (Johannes 1982). It has been used in a number of coastal/marine areas in the Asia-Pacific region (Johannes 1982, 2002; Ruddle 1989,1989; Aswani 2005), and is increasingly seen as a legitimate source of information for participatory management (Berkes et al. 2001, Davis and Wagner 2003 ). Impressive practical results about fish stock, migration and spawning have been obtained from the use of IK for fishery development in the lower Mekong basin, which is also a floodplain area (Mekong River Commission 2001). Baird (1999) describes how the local ecological knowledge of Mekong basin fishers played an important role in framing management regulations under ‘village laws’, in monitoring activities and in adapting management regulations to meet local conditions. It is reported that the community successfully established ‘fish conservation zones’, banned blocking of rivers with traps, restricted ‘water banging’ fishing and spear fishing with lights at night, banned catching of juveniles of snakeheads and frogs, and protected the inundated wetland forests for conservation ( Ibid ). However, application of IK in the fisheries management of Bangladesh is yet to be initiated.
Though admittedly, common pool resources are in decline throughout the developing world (Jodha 1991) in the face of a growing population, yet a group of scholars (Berkes and Farvar 1989, Feeny et al. 1990, Berkes 2003) challenged the Malthusian view of
3 resource degradation (Hardin 1968). The common thread in this new human ecological view is the diversity of relationships of resource users involving claims and conditions of access under which a resource is held. The focus of analysis is thus shifted from 'resource availability in aggregated terms' to 'pattern of resource uses through institutional arrangements' in which people are in continuous flux to secure claims to the resource before being able to exploit it. Community participation in fisheries management and utilization of IK is also a manifestation of the harmonious human- nature relationship approach. In Bangladesh, until very recent time, institutional arrangements for community participation in fishery management have been widely neglected (Ahmed et al. 1997, Toufique 1998, and Thompson et al. 2003).
The basic premise of argument is that people’s knowledge and practices are invaluable in their own local contexts and an understanding and appreciation of local knowledge and practices within their situated socio-cultural constructs may play critical roles in planning for resource management, enhancing scientific understanding of resource management and environmental processes and empowerment of communities. This research is intimately linked to sustainable development thoughts and practices and takes social, economic and environmental objectives into consideration. Obviously, it is only fisher's empowerment, and their active and sincere participation in the management process that can help to ensure a sustainable resource base and resilient management system. A resilient management system is one that 'buffers a great deal of change or disturbance, is synonymous with ecological, economic and social sustainability. One with low resilience has limited sustainability' (Berkes et al. 2002). This article examines the socio-cultural attributes of the traditional village based institutions prevalent in the coastal fishing villages of south-eastern belt of Bangladesh.
2. Coastal fishery management in Bangladesh: A policy perspective
‘Rice and fish make a Bengali’. While government’s efforts to levitate rice production are appreciable, fisheries remain as a relatively less valued sector to the government planners. Fisheries development policy in Bangladesh has been predominantly top- down, dominated by expansionist, productionist and technology-led approaches, and the content of the policy has favored the priorities of powerful elite groups at the expense of rural poor (Muir 2003). While the department made remarkable progress in extension of culture fisheries, its performance coastal small-scale fishery is debated from the purview of poor budgetary allocation, legal constraints, and institutional inefficiency. Lucidly mentioning, western-science based fisheries management approaches in a complicated geo-physical situation and multi-species fishery is seemingly impossible.
Prior to pre-colonial regime (before 1757), fisheries management has been the de facto job of fishers as user community and historical records show hardly any symptoms of unsustainability. For more than a century under the British Colonial rule, the Zamindars (Landlord) had full authority over the land and water within their jurisdictions. With the enactment of The East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act (EBSTA) in 1950, the Zamindari system was abolished and the properties were nested with Ministry of Land (Ahmed et al. 1997). In the wetland areas, most of the waterbodies are leased to
4 politically and economically powerful highest bidders and fishers fail to win through the bureaucratic process.
In 1986, the Government of Bangladesh introduced 'New Fisheries Management Policy' (NFMP), which was considered to be in favor of fishers (' Jal jar, tola tar'- He who owns net, owns waterbody) with the objectives to free the fishing people from exploitation by intermediaries, leaseholders and financiers; to redirect major benefits of fisheries to genuine fishermen; and to ensure conservation and propagation of fisheries resources (Ahmed et al. 1997). For marine resource management, Marine Fisheries Ordinance 1983 was promulgated, but lucidly mentioning, management effort of Department of Fisheries (DoF) for coastal fishery is too limited. The allocation of resources is <5% for the marine sector compared to inland sector.
In 1998, ‘National Fisheries Policy (NFP)’ was introduced and shaped by explicit or implicit narratives of revenue generation 3, production enhancement, environmental management, production, poverty alleviation and community involvement in fisheries management (Muir 2003). Recently, the government took some stringent measures to protect Hilsa fishery stocks in the riverine and coastal zones. Recently, UNDP/FAO pilot project-ECFC (‘Empowerment of Coastal Fishing Communities for Livelihood Security’ project, 2001-2006) significantly contributed towards organization and capacity building, alternative income generation and community participation in coastal resource management using participatory model in 117 coastal fishing villages of Cox’sBazar.
In Bangladesh , we get a picture of experience of partnership models (Figure 1) for the inland water fisheries (Ahmed et al. 1997, Toufique 1998, Berkes 2002, and Thompson et al. 2003). Creating a supportive policy environment for the poor fishers requires harmonization of policies across sectors, specially land and fisheries policy areas. The growth of partnership between DoF and NGOs (non-government organizations) is slow, yet a general acceptance of complementary roles of DoF and NGOs has emerged (Thompson et al. 2003). From the management models, we see that almost all are influenced by or connected to government or non-government institutions. Such connections are obviously important for legal support from the government agencies. Quite exceptionally, the coastal fisher’s local arrangements of property rights allocation sustained with hardly any support from the government institutions.
Fishers are not generally aware of the contexts of fisheries policy, but the most common interpretation is that they are ignored and their opinions are less valued. Because of hegemonial power exercise by state bureaucracies as the residual legacy of colonial regime followed by an absence of true democracies for decades, the politico-legal power relations between state agencies and fishing community institutions has become sharply hierarchical. Resultantly, fisher’s institutions suffered from lack of entitlements, powerlessness, and detachment. Down to the roots, situation tends to aggravate due to Malthusian pressure of growing population on the limited resource base.
3 In less than two decades, the lease value of many productive waterbodies increased 10-250 times, which is not affordable at all to the genuine poor fishers.
5
British Zami F DoF A. B. rulers nder F
DoF C. NGO F
NGO
DoF NGO DoF D. E. F
F
SH NNF
NN F NF
MC NF LG F. G. MC
NGO DoF NGO Do F F
Village MoL/ Local Elites leader F H. I. depts admin.
Legends: MC: Management Committee, DoF: Department of Fisheries, NGO: Non-government organization NNF: Non-NGO Fishermen, NF: NGO-fishermen, SH: Stakeholders, F: Fishermen, LG: Local government.
Figure 1: Models of interactions between DoF, fishers, NGOs and those developed under co-management program of ICLARM (Models A-G adapted from Ahmed et al. 1997, Berkes 2002, Thompson et al. 2003).
3. Methodology and the study site:
This study is primarily an attempt to describe fisher’s efforts for local level resource management and system of granting authority for fishing. The research was carried on in the coastal fishing village as an extension during January 2005 to July 2006, as an extension of field research for doctoral degree. Much of the field work related to the topic was carried out in the village ‘ Maijghona’, but relevant information as needed was gathered from other traditional fishing villages of Cox’sBazar district. The social attributes of ‘Maijghona’ fishers are explored and described.
Qualitative Participatory Approaches of Research (PAR) was chosen for the study as these are more responsive than any other known approaches (Chambers 1994) for exploring complex phenomena like artisanal fisheries and fishers that are situated and embedded locally. In my consideration, it is a form of research ‘of the people, by the people and for the people’. It is a praxis rhythm of action-reflection where knowledge
6 generation supports actions; it seeks to de-elitise and demystify research, thereby making it an intellectual tool which ordinary people as organic intellectuals can use to promote actions for change (Tilakratna 1990). Qualitative research demands long-term immersion of the ethno-methodologists in the field as the cardinal principle of sensing the interpretations of people’s behavior along with implicit and explicit social rules because an element of culture can not be removed from its context (Sillitoe et al. 2005).
Tools like participatory observation, focus group discussions (FGD), key informant interview, mapping and semi-structured (open-ended) interviews were used. I also learned from informal chat ‘aadda’ in the tea stalls, where fishers talk spontaneously after they are served with tea or hot beverages. My previous work experience and relations with the leaders of the community was crucial in the whole tenure of the field research. I never used the ‘official standard language’; rather I used local dialect in the community to keep the discussion lively, and to give a sense that ‘I am fisher-friendly’
4. Socio-demographic characteristics:
Maizghona fishing village is located in Saharbeel union of ‘Chakaria upazilla’ under Cox’sBazar district (Figure 2). It is a typical traditional fishing village inhabited by almost 100% caste-based Hindu fishermen; it is not specifically known when human settlement started in the village but elders claim of settlement from around 80-90 years. Internal communication is by tri-cycle ‘rickshaw’ from the ‘Chakaria upazilla’ and also by Badorkhali bound old jeeps, locally known as “ Chander gari’ 4 (Literally, ‘vehicles towards the moon’; redundant jeeps of the second world war, so far).
The coastal fishing communities are highly disadvantaged and resource poor, uneducated and extremely exploited by the moneylenders. Most of them remain indebted; they have little or no access to institutional credit supports; they are highly prone to natural calamities and accidents at sea; family members remain uncared for at least 6 months/year when women carry exceptionally responsible productive and reproductive roles; these fishers are very knowledgeable about the fisheries resources and the environment. Fishing is now seen as insecure occupation of the last resort.
There are 121 households in the village comprising a population of 898 individuals (male 476, female 422, 106 children below seven years); there are two hamlets in the village- east (‘ purba ’) and west (‘ paschim’ ). There are two ‘Village Organizations’ for male (188 members) and female (150 members) organized through development efforts of UNDP funded ECFC Project (Empowerment of Coastal Fishing Communities for Livelihood Security, BGD/97/017). The members sit fortnightly to discuss on development issues and make financial decision regarding savings and micro-enterprise run at the
4 The jeeps contribute significantly in mobilizing rural economy. As a cheap means of transportation, these jeeps are so well-suited in the landscape that people still rely a lot on them; basic space is for max. 12-16 passengers, but the jeep usually carries 25-30 passengers with hardly any space left on inside, top, front and back sides. Nothing except the wheels are seen, while moving it looks like a scoop of men are moving. One driver told me that while crossing hilly areas, they can touch clouds and ‘moon’, that is why it is ‘moon vehicle’. The driver can see hardly one side of the road and depends on dictation received from his assistant from the back side about the course and situation on the road. Speed boat is for higher income people and tourist.
7 community level. These organizational leaders carry on development activities with support from the traditional ‘ sardery’ system and hence hardly there is any conflict of power and leadership in the village. This fishing community also runs a non-formal primary school (with >85% enrollment) with support from the said project and local government administration. Around 75% of the villagers are functionally landless; they have poor access to land based agriculture except homestead gardening by the women. Villagers have access to safe drinking water and the sanitary condition inside village is awful; water logging in the monsoons is a persistent problem. Only 73 families have access to safe and sanitary latrines, others defecate around bushes outside village territory. Around 60% able bodied married women are aware of family planning practices. Literacy rate in the village is around 35% assuming that a literate person knows to read newspaper, basic calculations and put signature. For 98% of the families, active fishing and fishing related ancillary activities (like fishing labour, net mending, fish transportation, fish drying and other post-harvest techniques) are the primary profession. Only 67 families own ‘Estuarine Set Bag Net’ (ESBN) (only two families owns ‘Marine Set Bag Net- MSBN’ and one family owns gill net ‘ Hilsa jal ’. 70 families with gears own traditional small wooden crafts of which only 10 boats have low horse power engines.
Figure 2: Map of Bangladesh showing the Cox’sBazar coastal belt (Source: Google maps)
5. ‘The slaves of water’: Caste identity
This coastal fishing village is inhabited by fishers exclusively with ‘Jaladas’ caste groups. ‘Jaladas’ (Literally, slaves of water) is a word specific to the so-called ‘low caste’ Hindu
8 traditional fishermen. Within the ‘Jaladas’ caste, there is the existence of further faction, which I identified as: sada, anandi, kedar, petan, deba, basudeb, kichan, projari, mothura, gangaram, sari, kam, romai, chondi, joyram, munder, shova, lalmohan, borodome, porshuram, gulmanikya, chura . Among these, ‘sada’ and ‘deba’ groups are known to be more prestigious than others; marriage within the same sect was prohibited earlier but now-a-days not widely practiced. The caste system among Hindu’s in the rural villages is still more or less unbendingly followed; within the particular caste-based community, there is symptoms of homogeneity and brotherly bondages but the wider society is broadly heterogeneous. The parallel forms of socio-cultural and economic marginalization of these human creatures keep them psychologically subjugated.
Membership in the village is determined by birth. Caste system originated from the ‘occupational, genealogical, and organizational fission of Indo-Aryan system of stratification’ (Ghurye 1952 in Berrman 1983). Castes are kin groups- maximal and putative kin groups to be sure, and these small groups in turn are organized into lineages, the lineages into sibs (or clans), and the sibs often into phratries (gotra). This caste system persists as a form of institutionalized inequality in which ethnically distinct social entities are absorbed into a status and economic hierarchy as ranked, endogamous, birth-ascribed, kin-based occupational groups- thus benefiting the powerful section with production surplus and also effectively fractionating society and inhibiting development of class consciousness and class mobilization. As Berrman (1983) aptly mentions that Hinduism claims to justify the caste system by reference to a powerful and nicely articulated set of concepts like dharma , karma, reincarnation etc. whereby one’s religious/moral duty is to fulfill to the best of one’s ability the obligations inherent in the status to which one has been born-specially caste (and sex) status. The concept of earned, irreversible ‘purity and pollution’ in one’s lifetime is tied directly to occupation, diet, ritual behaviour, life style and other aspects of caste dharma. The ‘Jaladas’ fishers fall under this ‘acquired congenital pollution’ and their low status as rural workers is enjoined and reinforced by what Berrman terms as ideology and divine sanction. It is the fatalistic attitude and ‘cosmic illusion’ (maya) that helps to level off sufferings from basic amenities and other injustices made to them 5.
The production relations in the fishing communities are mainly determined by households, patrilocal and patrilineal descents, relatives and networks of obligations
5 I found in the Hindu epic ‘Mahabharat’ that an exquisitely beautiful fisher’s girl ‘Matshya Gandhari’ was so ‘fish- smelly’ that nobody approached her; once the girl approached a saint ‘parashar muni’ and begged to him: ‘I am the daughter of ‘low caste’ ‘ koibarta Das’ root fisherman ‘ Das Raja’ , (literally meaning that there was king from fishing families also); my body is bursting with fishy smell; nobody comes near me’. The saint was surprised to see her beauty; he relieved her of fishy smell and offered her with ‘lotus smell’ by his divine power; the saint married her and later gave birth of renowned lord ‘ Beyashodeb ’, the founder of ‘pandob’ families (Source: page 100, Eighteenth segment of Mohabharat , written by Mohakobi (great poet) Kashi Ram Das; publisher Sree Beni Madhab Shill, Calcutta). Fishers proudly mention that the supreme God-head Lord ‘Sree Krishna’ himself took camouflage of a ‘fisherman’ to preach lord ‘Arjuna’ before the ‘Kurukhettro’ war. Many fishers believe that their sufferings have roots to religion. Lord ‘Rama’ put curse on a fisher. While lord ‘Rama’ was enquiring to a fisher on the bank of river about his beloved wife ‘Sitaa’ (who was snatched by ‘Raban’ ), the fisher replied “I suffer from my own worries; how shall I think about your ‘Sitaa ’. Lord Rama was very unhappy with the answer and put curse ‘you will always remain in sufferings and worry’.
9 with typical authoritative roles and functions. For the fishers with non-mechanized small boats, kinship relations for active fishing are mainly determined by a parental ‘blood flow’ and ‘umbilical cord’ (same mother) relationships among families and generations than of the above-mentioned socio-cultural construction. For activities other than fishing, the kinships tend to be extended to other lineal and collateral relationships (‘ bangsho/ gusthi’ ) and other loosely related connections beyond the familial relationships primarily based on ‘ chula/ khana’ (cooking/eating unit) and homestead (‘ ghar’/bari’ ). Fishers denote kinship with the words ‘ atmiyo-swajan’ , (literally ‘relatives’ and ‘own/intimate’ respectively). Interestingly, the inherent meaning of ‘ atmiyo’ is rooted to the word ‘ atma’ meaning ‘spiritually bonded heart’, hence the sense of the word ‘ atmiyo’ demands a strong sense of ‘cordiality and feelings’ among the family members and relatives.
One important determinant of kinship in a Hindu fishing community is the ‘right’ of setting fire on the face (‘ mukhagni ’) of deceased family member/relatives; usually it is the eldest son followed by other sons, wife, brothers, father, uncle, daughter and other from the sub-clan. Strong sense of kinship and sub-clan consciousness in the fishing villages is helpful in maintaining social order, solidarity and bondage. In the rural setting of Bangladesh, kin-based individuals are expected to know and observe certain rights and responsibilities and it is the kin-based group through which most of the socio-cultural, religious, economic and political activities are performed and shaped.
One important characteristics of fishantry is that fishers usually know the very basics of the crafts and gears they use for years or generations; however some fishers possess higher degrees of skill and hence correspondingly sell their specialized labor. Despite stratification and distinct function in the skill level, there are inter-connectedness and thus helping to pool together the technical and societal division of labor for maximizing production. The fishers of coastal villages form social groups with short or long-term interlocking positions and roles, with their family members, close and distant kins of blood and marriage relationships, neighbors, friends and known faces. In this social process, traditional village based leadership system (‘ sardery’ ) plays a significant role.
6. ‘Sardery ’: Age-old village institution
The traditional fishing villages, unlike any other peasant villages, will not be understood fully without a thorough understanding of the embedded local institution. ‘Sarder’ (literally, the head or leader of the community) and ‘ sardery’ (literally system led by ‘sarder’ and also bears the connotation of what the leader does for the orderliness of the social reconciliation or establishment) is an age-old institution, very much archetypical of the traditional fishing villages of Bangladesh. Nobody could ascertain about the beginning of this gender-biased para-legal institution, but all the age-old living memories mentioned about at least 5-7 decades. The fact that such an institution has survived several decades is attributed to the reality that the system is pretty widely accepted for its promptness followed by a threat of ‘social exclusion’ for those who dare to contravene. The victims of social exclusion are usually denied of participation in village level rituals, sharing of foods and marital relationships.
In each fishing village, there is at least one ‘sarder’ ; more than one ‘sarder’ is also found in fishing villages, where there are several hamlets ( ‘para’) . In such cases, the aged
10 ‘sarder’ is given de facto seniority. With each ‘sarder’, there will be one or more than one ‘Mukkhya’ (literally, chief adviser to ‘sarder’) and ‘ Mannyamaan’ (literally, respected persons). In absence of ‘sarder’ , the ‘ Mukkhya’ can represent him involving the ‘mannyaman’ . All these top hierarchies are occupied by the male; no female is still known to be part of the judicial system, though there are proven female leaders in the fishing villages. There is no manual for this rural judiciary system; the ethical codes and judgments of the ‘ sarder’ remain unchallenged mostly, except a few cases where ‘sardery’ system is confronted by well-off fishers. The usual combination of ‘ sarder’, ‘mukkhya’ and ‘mannyamaan’ is 1:1:1; however in different larger fishing villages with multiple sets of kinships, combinations like 1:2:2, 1:2:3, 2:2:4, 2:4:6 were found. Fishing villages that lack ‘ sarder’ due to death or other reasons, the ‘ mukkhya ’ plays the key role. A ‘sarder’ is a ‘ sarder’ almost for ever; he can be off himself, but shall never be downgraded to any other position. In most cases, ‘ sarder ’ is the outcome of family dynasty; ‘ sarder’ s son will be a ‘sarder’ - is the common rule. There is no room for the women at any stage of the whole ‘ sardery’ system. In case of father’s death or incapability due to physical illness, the eldest son or one of his capable brother or cousin will take up ‘ sardery’.
The ‘sarder’ and his associates play critical roles in mitigating familial and inter- household conflicts, organizing marriage ceremonies and numerous rituals and maintaining social order and harmony in the village. Under the system, there are no hassles and financial loss as usually incurred in running legal procedures in the court and police station unless fined by ‘ sarder ’ on certain grounds; importantly the social tension created through the personal or familial dispute can not be lessened through conventional judicial system. ‘ Sardery’ system is pretty fast, mostly unbiased, and efficient; it is largely accepted by the villagers and on the whole, successfully neutralizes the social tension over the issue what the legal system fails to address. The issues are confined within the villages; why bother others with the ‘village issue’ while prestige matters. ‘Sarder’ is considered like ‘umbrella in rain and sun’; so better to keep confidence in his action. Fishers view that without a strong ‘sarder’ , the numerous agonies and humiliations from the new entrant Muslim fishermen escalate. Beyond these social roles, they play critical roles in resource management. They allocate the location for fishing and administer the system in an unbiased and fair way.
7. The mental map of the fishers:
There is no doubt that fishing as a profession is full of uncertainty. The amount of catch has spatial and temporal variation; on a certain day some fishers may enjoy a bumper catch while some others may be frustrated about their catch. This gambling nature in the catch is one of the important justifications to the observance of special rituals in the fishing villages. Even in fishing where the yield is abundant and there is no uncertainty and risks, there is little or no observance of rites (Malinowski 1918:90 in Pramanik 1993:113). In the coastal fishing villages, skill and experience of fishing matters in the sea, but even the best experienced fishers also do not solely depend on their skill and efficient gears alone. Rather, they all are attached to observance of certain appropriate rituals for an extra impetus.
11 Fishers maintain a certain ideological order; they worship some goddesses which are usually not or less valued in the mainstream community of the same religion. For mental and spiritual reinforcement of the seafaring fishers, the priests associated with the fishing villages make apt revelations of the evil forces, disorders, risks and accidents in the sea. I observed that the frequency of rituals and degree of risks and uncertainty are linearly related; with the increase in the former, the observations of the latter escalate. Most of the rituals observed by the hereditary fishers are centered towards ‘assumed and known risks’ at sea for which there is hardly any other options than to capitulate to fatalism and magico-religious culture. In the coastal fishing villages, the observance of typical and diverse rituals and rites has transformed to unique artistic religious-cultural creations and obviously such observance at family and community level is of profound importance in maintaining individual’s impulses, emotions, social and psychological coherence in a world characterized by plasticity of risks, uncertainties and death. These rituals are symbolic expressions of the social character, and help to preserve and perpetuate the values through which society continually expresses itself (Pramanik 1993). Through observing these rituals embedded in traditions and also superstitions, the fishers become emotionally ready for the ‘call from the sea’; such observance of rituals also renews and reaffirms social relations.
It is difficult to draw a thin line between luck and skill; many fishers believe that fishing is as much luck as it is skill based. The Bengal society widely believes that fishers are superstitious and religious 6. One old Hindu fisherman challenged this view; he mentions ‘anyone who goes to sea and remain there for a long time on a piece of small wooden boat, will be forced to be superstitious and submitted to God. Nobody can be boasting of survival in the sea’ (Robi Jaladas,57, Maijghona, Cox’sBazar) . Hindu caste-based fishers believe that ‘souls of the fishes caught by Jaladas fishing castes will find rooms in heaven ’; they also believe that fishes are not aware of the nets and other preparations by fishers for catching them (‘ Mache na chine jal, manushe nachine kaal’ ). This view differs from Firth’s (1966: p122) observation on Malay fishermen, who believe that ‘ fish are not unconscious of the activities and intentions of the fishermen even at a distance’. In the Hindu cultural interpretations, ‘boats and nets are not mere timbers or threads, but sacred enlivened objects’ for carrying humans and catching fishes in the sea. The process of sanctification and keeping the objects sanctified through rituals are very important to both the religious groups, as they perceive that if objects are sanctified, fishes and evil spirits will be placated down. Hindu fishers never urinate from the anterior portion of boat; they believe that ‘ Goddess Ganga stays in the forehead of boat’ ;
To Hindu fishers, the sea is considered as ‘female entity’, expressed through ‘bodiliness and subjectivity’ of sacred ‘mother and goddess Ganga ’. In local epistemology, ‘excited sea’ ( sagor ) is cooled down ‘sexually’ by ‘monsoon water’ from ‘surrounding rivers (viewed bodily as male), to produce ‘offspring’ (fishes) in water. Muslim fishers also
6 They should not be categorized like ‘too formal religious’ devotees as we see in Bengal society. Life at sea is so harsh, the talk so obscene, the values enshrined in formal religion so despised, that religious fisherman is an eccentric (Tunstall 1962). But almost all the fishers I met have strong beliefs in the existence of God. Both the Hindu and Muslim fishers that I met on the boat try to maintain the basic daily performance like prayer regularly. However, haor fishers are rarely seen to say prayer on boat.
12 widely respect goddess ‘ Ganga’ ; similarly Hindu fishers widely respect ‘ Gazi Kalu ‘, a Muslim saint. This aspect of inter-religious cross-scale practices with highly significant ethical values is indicative of the fact that the fishers irrespective of faith seek support from known supernatural forces/deities/saints beyond their ascertained ones. The location of the goddess Ganga is calculated out by priest using almanac ( panjika ) and a lunar day is fixed conveniently for ‘community-based ritual’.
Essential ingredients for the ‘ puja’ (prayer) are: 1 medium earthen or metallic pot ( Ghot ), some paddy grains, 1 long colorful cloth of women (saree ), 1 towel ( gamcha ), I coconut, 2 white bengels (shaka), 1 small looking glass, 1 comb, 1 bottle of coconut oil, ribbon, honey, sugar, indigenous banana, water from five ponds ( poncha pukur pani ), 5 types of cereal ( poncha shoshya ), 5 types of twigs/leaves ( poncha pollab ), 5 types of metals including gold ( poncha ratna ), 5 types of cow milk items ( poncha gobbya ), flowers (Usually ‘joba’ Hibiscus rosa sinensis, ‘ganda’ Tagetes erecta ), bamboo plate ( kula ), ‘billyapatra’ ( leaves of Aegle marmelos ), banana leaves, fragrance, white and red ‘chandan ’, basil leaves ( tulshi, Ocium sanctum ), whie clothes for the priest ( brahmin 7), fruits, horitoki fruit’ (Terminalia chebula) , beetel leaf and nuts, blades of grass ‘ durba’ (Cynodon dactylon ), vermilion/red lead ( sindur ) and money ( Dokkhina ) for the priest. Earlier goats were sacrificed but now-a-days it is becoming very rare. Things are organized by the priest; the married women bangs orally ( Uloddhoni ) and young boys play on ‘metallic plate’ (kansha) and drums ( dhole ). The Brahmin blows on hollow conch (shonkha ) and then utters ‘mantra’ (hymn):
‘Oum, surupang charunetrancho chandrajutosomopravam, Chamoroibijjomanantu shetochotro-poshovitam, Suprosonnang subodonang karunadronijantorum, Sudhaplabito vupristamadragondhanuleponam, Troilokkyanomitang gongang debadivirovistutum, Oum gongayei nomo, Gung gongayei bishyamukhyei shivamriteyi shantiprodayini nomo nomo, Oum sadhya patakasongontri sadhadukkhobinashini, Sukhoda mokkhyada gonga gongeiba poroma goti, Oum gonga gongoti jobroyata shovonannag matoiropi, Mucchote sorbopapoivvo bishnu lokong sogochoti’
Literal theme: ‘We the devotees praise your motherly lovely face and illumination of moon and sun from your eyes; your gesture spreads peace and sympathy all around; you always ensure our happiness and safety wherever we are; we thus offer ourselves on your feet, oh sympathetic mother’.
After some more hymns and ‘ ganga stoatra’ ( ganga lyric), the priest will perform ‘homa joggya’ (holy fire) by burning some dry mango woods and then mix the burnt coal with butter; the priest then put imprint of the mixture on the forehead of the fishers. The devotees are served with some ‘prosadom’ (holy food). Nets and boats are ‘humanized and sanctified’ with holy water. The painted eyes of deity Ganga (Figure 6) at the
7 The Brahmin for the fishermen is somebody fixed from a Brahmin community who is not usually expected or allowed to serve for the so-called ‘higher caste Hindus’ in their rituals. A Brahmin for fishers is also a ‘low status’ brahmin within his own community of Brahmins.
13 forehead of boat are enlivened through putting mixture of coconut oil and vermilion ( tel- sindhur ) on pupil.
Traditional caste-based fishers of the Cox’sBazar are profoundly influenced by the ‘Adinath’ temple and the goddesses therein ( Devi Durga and Lord Shiva ). All the fishers, ranging from owner of the boat to hired laborers pay tribute to the goddess on a sacred day ascertained by the priest with some offerings like banana, green coconut water, candles and occasionally freeing a pair of pigeons. After the ‘puja’ or prayer is over, the fishers with their clothes and other daily necessaries will get on the boat for final departure towards targeted fishing sites during the month of ‘ Ashin-Kartik’ (mid-October to mid-November). The hymn for the common prayer is:
Sormongolamongoille shibe sorbathosadhike, Shoronney tromboke gouri narayoni namastute’
Literal translation: ‘Lord Shiva bestows utmost blessings for us; with you also we call goddess like Gouri (Goddess Durga ) and Lord Narayan ’.
8. ‘Faar’ : Locally crafted institution for fishing territory management
This section examines the locally crafted diverse management institutions that survived for decades. There are different arrangements for territorial management, locally known as ‘faar’ . ‘Faar’ can be viewed as a socially recognized, enforceable, and exclusive hereditary right; there is no state-formalized legal ownership; it is the holder’s competence and capacity to hold and transfer it. The word ‘faar’ has connotations to both the management system and the local fishing grounds controlled by the communities and ‘ pata’ means one’s specific area for setting nets irrespective of time limit. This strictly exercised age-old management institution for granting fishing entitlements to pertinent members through rotating fishing sites manifests the capability and harmonious management of local institutions. This community based system is largely concentrated on the tenure management, rather than focusing on resource management per se . Such ‘ faar’ management records are evidenced since 1929 in the traditional fishing villages. These are broadly caste-specific and limited to mostly ESBN/MSBN (multi-species) and rarely gill nets for Hilsa sps.
The entitlement is usually temporary in nature though some fishers in ‘Selimpur’ fishing village, Chittagong district enjoy ‘faar’ for generations and resource use rights is transferable and sellable. As coastal fishing is predominantly a male activity, women have very limited roles in the whole management process. Such institutions are ‘ padu, sangam ’ as recoded from Kerala and Sri Lanka (Alexender 1995, Amarasinghe et al. 1997, Lobe 2002). Comparative aspects of all the rural institutions of South-east Asia are shown in Table 1. The tenure management is tuned with water level fluctuations. Nets are set at a depth of 6 and 11M in case of wet and dry periods respectively. Fishers are aware that directions and operations of nets are largely influenced by wind direction and tidal actions. Nets are taken a bit deep and far as the nets tend to coalesce in near-shore turbulent water.
The said ‘ faar’ administered by the study village ‘ Maijghona’ is spread over the river ‘Buramatamuhuri’ and in the administrative maps, the areas of fishing fall under the ‘land
14 administration points’ 1085 and 1087 ( Buramatamuhuri ), 1093 ( Ichaphari ), 1094 (Takkofari ), 1104 ( Jalaissa ) and 1119 ( Maachkata ). There are 56 fishing locations spread over around 15 kilometer long areas of the ‘Buramatamuhuri’ river, of which the Maijghona fishers still manage 40 locations. Reportedly, the ‘faar’ system is increasingly under the pressure of the new entrant Muslim fishers. There are some evidences of snatching nets and fishes from the traditional fishers. These traditional Hindu fishers lack a legally recognized arrangement with the local administration, and hence their age- old institution faces enormous pressures from competing fishers of other villages. There are sharp variations in ‘ Faar ’ administration and the decisions are taken independently by the traditional village leaders ‘ Sarder’ (Figure 7). Here are some instances:
1. In case of ‘Maijghona’ fishing village, for temporary control over 40 ‘ faar’ , there are 70 candidate households. ‘Lottery system’ is organized by the village leader and his associates on a pre-declared date prior to the advent of spring tide (‘ Jo’ ). Small 40 tokens with serial 1-40 and thirty tokens with zero are used for 70 fishers. The winners of the numbers 1-5 enjoy freedom to choose their desired locations sequentially. Those with number zero will not get access to any ‘ faar’, but can set nets in less important locations outside the designated areas. In some instances, those who win ‘best locations’ hire nets from others who failed to win the lottery. In this way, at least a minimum income is ensured for other fishers.
2. In case of ‘Tarasghata’ fishing village, ‘lottery’ is arranged among villagers on the tenth lunar day evening of every fortnight for deciding temporary ownership on 25 ‘ faar’ (among 4 families) controlled by the village. Some years, when there is a need for money for management of village council, they call for auction of 5-7 best locations. The highest bidders (each site varying from Taka 5000-7000/yr (1U$ = Taka 65) are allocated the sites and the rest sites are allocated among other fishers fortnightly. In two metallic pots, the names of villagers and ‘ faar’ are kept. The village leader or a child picks up name and ‘ pata ’ simultaneously. Nobody raises question on the integrity of the system; those deprived set their nets outside the regulated areas. The fishers of the coast keep separate route for navigation and ‘swimming of buffaloes’.
3. In case of ‘ Boalkhali Jaladaspara’, ‘faar’ are allocated during ‘ durga puja’ for the whole year at a cost of Taka 1000-3000 per ‘ faar’ depending on strategic location. In all the cases, money is used for religious ceremonies and legal battles for the control over the ‘ faar ’ in case they face challenge from competing fishers.
4. In case of ‘Sunderbans ’ fishing zones in the south-west, there are some areas where ‘faar’ are controlled by some fishers for years; however they shift quickly when they find better catch anywhere else. The general tendency is to target the mouth opening of the channels.
Beyond these arrangements, there are some de facto arrangements among the fishers. Mechanized boat owners with multiple sets of ESBN/MSBNs maintain certain alignments (‘ pata ’) for setting 5-7 nets. These ‘ pata’ are not usually marked by flags or any such visible items; however some bamboo sets are seen in the near coast areas. No matter whether there are visible marks/signposts or not, the fishers can recognize
15 areas as ‘ pata ’ of certain fisherman. The fishers can enjoy the ‘faar’ from one fortnight to generations, depending on the local arrangements and decisions. There is variation in the distance between adjacent nets; it varies from 2m in the channel to even 30m in the near-shore areas (Figure 3). The distance between two tapering ends of a net is usually 64m; the mouth opening varies from 14m (ESBN) to 24m (MSBN) and the distance of rope varies 20-25m. Participatory observations revealed that there are different combinations in net setting; such as side-by-side “pasha pashi’ ); parallel (‘ somantoral ’), back to back (‘ pichone y), Y shape and zigzag (‘ tera becka’ )(Figure 3). As evident from the operational arrangements of nets in the estuary and shallow sea, the sitting combinations (except the straight-line position ‘a’ that added to sedimentation problem also) allow certain portions of the fishes to escape through the gaps and distances maintained between gears. The local wisdom behind such decisions bears positive impacts towards conservation and sustainable use of resources.
Interestingly, the ‘Faar’ has become synonymous with the conical shaped net ESBN/MSBN (locally called ‘behundi’ jal) in the south-east coastal part of Bangladesh as is the case for ‘ Padu’ with stake nets (Lobe 2002). Historically, a plethora of selective and non-selective gears are in use in the marine and estuarine ecosystem with different degrees of efficiency, economics, modus operandi and species selection. Within a broad category of gears, fishers have evolved some more variants based on their practical needs, experience, targeted species, areas of operation and financial capability. Traditional Hindu fishers proudly claim that the configuration and making of the net is so complicated and patience-deserving that most of the Muslim fishers do not bother to weave and operate it. In the greater Cox’sBazar and Chittagong belts, weaving and use of E/MSBN has become mostly identical with the traditional Hindu fishers.
Net making is mainly a family job, initiated by the male elders and completed through hand-works of both female and children under guidance of the elders. Women play a crucial role in the whole process; they are seen to learn techniques of weaving from elderly women, father or husband and take lead role to transmit the techniques among the children. Some girls become so skill that it is considered as a special quality in course of negotiation with the bridegroom side prior to their marriage. Some women do it as a livelihood strategy. The whole net is divided into six parts (1. Mukaba or mukhjal or ghara, 2. Head kaba or head jal, 3. Boro barush, 4. Head barush, 5. Olan and 6. Melan ); each part is prepared separately and then joined by skill fisher. The ‘ Mukaba’ comprises the most complicated portion of the net, consisting of mouth opening, basic skeletons and hung-up areas for next linking portions, net fixation wings, and support systems of the whole net. Only a limited number of fishers know the art and background calculation of the ‘ mukaba’ although most of the fishers know how to weave. In the anterior section of the net, there are ‘four eyes’; fishers perceive that the net as an enlivened entity can ‘see the fishes and guide them’ inside net.
Common property theory is suggestive of the fact that without proper support and cooperation of the resource users and multiple stakeholders, proper resource management is difficult. In many coastal communities where property rights have been ascribed or maintained by the community institutions, the resilience of the ecological system has been maintained as a result of the rules, norms and networks of reciprocity
16 created by those who are dependent on the resource for their livelihoods (Berkes and Folke 1998 cited in Lobe 2002). Such institutions tend to prevent the open access conditions to other competing groups, thus playing positive roles towards resource conservation and sustainable uses.
‘Faar ’, as a traditional caste-based system of granting fishing entitlement bears significant role in building social capitals and solidarity among the user communities. Each time, the allocation holders get opportunities to transform their social networks. Specially fishers who get long-term possession of the fishing locations tend to revitalize their relationships with new businessmen and moneylenders. Such value-oriented social capital is important for community members as many individuals use and maintain the capital as a refuse or safety net for coping in adversities. The use and/or abuse of such social institutions greatly affects the quality and quantity of other capitals, social order, patron-client relationship, values, reciprocity, solidarity, collective efforts, empowerment and socio-cultural identity of a community.
Figure 3: The traditional ‘faar’ setting in the coast.
17 Table 1: Comparison of community-based institutions prevalent in South-east Asia
Features Pulicat lake, Tamil Nadu, Negombu estuary, Kerala- Cochin estuary, South-east coastal belt of India Sri Lanka India Bangladesh Property ‘Padu’ shared by three Four Rural Fisheries Three ‘ Sangams’ (society or ‘Faar’ primarily a village based institution; however rights villages Societies (RFS) share the association) allocate access inter-village arrangements are also evident. arrangement access to the fishing grounds to fishing grounds. Caste All fishers are members of All fishers are from the same All fishers are Hindu and Fishers belong to Hindu traditional fishing caste ‘Jaladas’ specificity the traditional fishing caste- group of Roman Catholic members of the same caste (literally ‘slaves of water’). Prevalent ‘pattanavar’, represented by identity. ‘Dheevara’. among the Hindu ‘Koibartadas’ fishing caste also. both Christians and Hindus. Institutional The sharing of the fishing The Roman Catholic church Each fishing ground operates The village based institution ‘Sarder’ (Village leader) basis of right grounds among the three facilitates the sharing of the independently- there is no and his associates determine the allocations. Inter- holders villages is facilitated by caste fishing grounds between the coordinating institution. villages arrangements and conflicts are rarely organization ‘ Panchayet ’; four RFS; each then operates Lottery is facilitated by negotiated by the body of the ‘Sarders’ with the villages operate the their lottery independently. individual ‘Sangam’ . cooperation from local Union Parishad members and lottery independently under chairman or local administration. the guidance of ‘ Panchayet’. Geographical Located close to the mouth Close to the mouth of the Close to the one of the Usually close to the mouth of the sea; also prevalent territories of of the estuary; fishing estuary; two fishing grounds mouths of the estuary; three along the shallow coastline far from the fishing fishing sites grounds again divided into divided into 22 fishing spots main fishing sites sub- village. Sub-division varies from village to village 25 sites accommodating 56 accommodating around 70 divided into 78 sites based to location and geographical coverage; nets nets. nets. accommodating 78 nets covered vary from 40 to 100. Gear Stake net (‘ Suthu Valai’ ) Stake- seine net Stake net (‘ Ooni Vala’ ) Mainly ‘ Behundi ’- Estuarine Set Bag net (ESBN), also specificity Marine Set Bag nets (MSBN) and Hilsa gill net. Catch Primarily targets shrimp Shrimp- 82% are sub-adults Targets mainly shrimps M. Targets a variety of species- mainly Acetes japonicus, composition (Penaeus indicus ) of shrimps, of which 70% dobsoni, M. monoceros and Mystus gulio, Lates calcarifer, Arius sps., Cynoglossus are Metapenaus dobsoni P. indicus with seasonal spp., Harpodon nehereus, Mugil spp., Liza subviridis, variation Valamugil speigleri, Eleutheronema tetradactylum, Setipinna taty, Trichurus savala, M. monoceros, M. brevicornis, P. indicus, P. merguiensis, Neptunus spp., Trichurus savala etc. Size varies from larvae to adult with dominance of sub-adults. Duration of Allocation granted on a daily Daily basis using a weekly The three ‘Sangams’ operate In most of the cases, on a fortnightly basis; no daily or entitlement basis within a monthly cycle cycle and a yearly lottery to independently; rotation takes weekly allocation, so far. Yearly allocations are also of assigned days. assign starting points in the place annually in the general evident. Some fishing sites in the Chittagong belt are rotation. meeting. ‘marketable’ and transferable through generations
Source: Modified from Mathew 1991, Panini 2001, Attapattu 1987, Amarasinghe 1997, cited in Lobe 2002.
18 9. Lunar periodicity: A guiding feature
Lunar periodicity is very important to the coastal fishers in determining the duration and time of fishing, species selectivity/targeting, areas of fishing, journey for and winding up fishing and many other aspects. Tidal variations are known to immensely influence the life cycles, reproductive behaviour and on the whole availability of many species and fishers historically prepared their ‘mental fishing almanac’ accordingly. The Hindu traditional fishers and their grown-up family members are practically cognizant of the lunar periodicity and events. Hindu fishers, specially adult women demonstrated expertise in the calculation of the ‘tithi’ 8(lunar day), as such knowledge base is intimately linked to their fasting ( Ekadoshir upabas ) and worship of different Goddesses, daily cycle of fishing, household activities and livelihoods (Figure 4, Table 2).
Table 2: Bengali lunar days and corresponding tidal condition
Bengali lunar days ( tithi ) Start Tidal peak Jo-dala (spring- Remarks of tide neap) phase Pratipad-1st lunar day 08 am 12pm Jo phase Peak water level Dwitiya- 2nd lunar day 09 am 01pm Jo phase Water level declines Tritia- 3rd lunar day 10 am 02pm Jo phase Chathurthi- 4th lunar day 11 m 03pm Jo phase ends Stable water Panchami- 5th lunar day 12 pm 04pm Dala starts Water level recedes Shasthi- 6th lunar day 01 pm 05pm Dala phase As above Shaptami- 7th lunar day 02 pm 06pm Dala phase As above Ostomi- 8th lunar day 03 pm 07pm ‘Bramma dala’ Low water level Nobomi- 9th lunar day 04 pm 08pm ‘Bramma dala’ As above Doshomi- 10 th lunar day 02 am 06am Dala ends water stable, ‘ready to walk’ Ekadoshi-11 th lunar day 03 am 07am Jo phase starts One hr. back from ekadoshi Dwadoshi- 12th lunar day 04 am 08am Jo phase Water on increase/’walk’. Troyodoshi- 13 th lunar day 05 am 09am Jo phase As above Chaturdoshi-14 th lunar day 06 am 10am Jo phase As above Purnima/purnamashi -15 th 07 am 11 am (+/- 30 Peak jo phase of Peak water level; lunar day (full moon) or minutes either full moon or geographical variation of Amabashya (new moon) depending on new moon. time and tidal height may be area/seasons) observed. Source: FGD with fishers of Thakurtala and Gorakghata, June 2005. Moheskhali.
When the sun, moon and earth are in the same alignment, the gravitational forces are magnified causing spring tide (locally termed as ‘jo’ ) with the highest amplitudes between two successive high tide and low tide. For around one week, the sun and moon pull at the right angels of the earth, thus lowering the gravitational force and causing neap tide (locally termed ‘ dala ’), when the amplitude between high tide and low tide is remarkably lower. The relative position of the moon is an important determinant; tidal oscillations vary when the moon changes from waning crescent to the new moon phase and the waxing crescent to the full moon phase. The coastal inhabitants of Bangladesh
8 The lunar month starts with the 1 st day of the ‘amabashya’ or new moon. The lunar days remain in same distance from new moon or full moon phases; lunar days bear same name in both new moon and full moon phases; the time of moon appearance on a certain lunar day will be the same of setting out time of the next fortnight. One lunar day is equivalent to 0.98435 day.
19 experiences semi-diurnal tidal pattern (two high tides or ‘Joar’ and two low tides or ‘bhata ’ in 24 hours). ‘Joar’ (high tide) and ‘bhata’ (low tide) are daily phenomena while ‘jo’ and ‘dala’ are fortnightly phenomena.
Fishers generally agree that in a given lunar month, the tidal height and force during ‘purnimashi ’ (full moon) is slightly higher/stronger than that of ‘amabashya’ (new moon); however the peak tides during rainy seasons maintain similar heights irrespective of new moon and full moon phases. It is generally agreed by the Hindu fishers that in each Bengali lunar month, there will be two phases of jo ; in each fortnight, there will be 10 days of Jo ( 20 days/month) and 5 days of dala ( 10 days/month ). Fishers have a common joke in Bengali:
‘Purnimar joer pacha bola, Amabashyar joer aga bola’
Literal translation: Full moon ‘ Purnima and new moon ‘ Amabashya’ compared with the body structure of adult woman (fair complexion like Goddess ‘ Radha ’) and man (dark complexion like Lord ‘ Krishna ’) respectively; full moon and new moon tidal patterns bear a resemblance to puffy woman hip and extended manly chest respectively’.
It is generally agreed by the fishers that fish abundance is higher 9 during jo compared to dala period. This is why E/MSBN (Estuarine/marine set bag net) and hook and long liners of the greater south-east region continue to fish during jo and winds up operation at the advent of dala. ESBN usually has the highest number of species caught irrespective of size. Amount of fish during dala phase is remarkably insignificant in the south-east region. Though almost all the species mentioned in the Table 3 can be found in any of the new and full moon phase, the number matters. Table 3 and Figure 5 depicts the seasonal variation of fishes usually caught in E/MSBN.
Based on the seasons, the fishers either fish during dala and winds up nets during jo (monsoon months) or maintains nets throughout both jo and dala (dry months). This trend has got local variation. As the dala invites more freshwater influx to the coast, the likelihood of getting freshwater and brackish water species is also deemed high. However, generally, on the 8 th and 9 th lunar days ( ostomi and nobomi ) of the winter poush-magh months, there is hardly any catch in the ESBNs and MSBNs and the fishers in the south-east region usually wind up their nets for drying, treatment or weaving. One Bengali proverb goes:
“Ostomi nobomi bramma 10 dala, Koi geli tui jailla hala’’ 11
9 Sarda and Maynou (1998) provided a nice account of fisher’s perception. Fishers of Catalan Bay, North West Mediterranean) assert that the catch of rose shrimp ( Aristeus antennatus ) is higher on Fridays than other days of the week. After two years of data collection and following statistical analysis, they concluded: ‘summarizing our findings, we report that off the Catalan coast, the catch of rose shrimp is highest on Fridays’.
10 The word ‘Bramma’ derives from the Hindu Goddess ‘ Brammah’ ; interestingly Muslim fishers also use the same vocabulary to mean a dull dala .
11 Hala or shala indicates funny relationships between husband and his wife’s younger brother. Commonly used as a ‘bad word’ in the fishing community.
20 Literal translation : ‘Lunar days 8 th and 9 th are exceedingly dull; where do the loutish/ill- mannered fishers go for fishing these days?’
There is disagreement among different gear users about the abundance of fishes during new and full moon phases; the hook and long liners mention that they get better catch and larger sizes because the fish can see the lure/bait of the hooks; on the other hand gill netters claim that fishes avoid the net as they can see it; ESBN and MSBN operators are of the opinion that tidal force is more important than the lunar phases.
Figure 4: Schematic diagram of lunar days in relation to fishing operations (Redrawn from PRA sketch, 26-4-2006, Thakurtala fishing village)
According to old experienced fishers , in the 1 st Ekadoshi and Dwadoshi (11 th and 12 th lunar days) of the month, shoal fishes appear more; a few number of species (Ribbon fish, snappers, croakers, threadfins, bigeye tuna, even Indian salmon) but of good size
21 and quality; in the days following voron jo (tidal peak with turbid water), species like brown shrimp, kuruma shrimp, Bombay duck, green tiger shrimp, banana shrimp, kiddi shrimp, threadfins, small croakers etc. are caught more. Shoals are usually dispersed during strong tidal currents; still the black jew fish might be caught. Fishers believe that if the white big ribbon fish is caught in the net; the following day, there will be less or no fish of the same species in the net in the area. That is why with a bumper catch of white ribbon fish, fishers sometimes tend to change their spots. White ribbon fish is usually considered as a fish of ‘dala’, habituating in less turbid water; they are comparatively less in catch during ‘jo’.
Expert fishers observed that ‘diurnal pulse’ 12 (as shown in Figure 5 and Table 3) fetch some impacts on the catch and its composition. The ESBN operators netting in shallow waters have nothing or very little to do with such diurnal variation; however the MSBN operators netting off the coast try to target sub-surface layer at daytime and surface layer at daytime. The gill net operators have the operational advantage of adjusting their gears suiting different depth layer and the probable location of shoal. It is well-agreed that under any given circumstance, small fishes dominate the surface layer in the daytime and medium to larger fishes come up from sub-surface and bottom layer close to surface for food. One expert fisherman told me that ‘some fishes like white ribbon fish, skates, rays, hairfin anchovy and lady fish can synchronize their vertical motions with the surface illumination’.
Table 3: Catch variation in ‘Behundi’ net (ESBN) in different lunar periodicity
‘Jo’ (Spring tide) ‘Dala’ (Neap tide) ‘Purnima’ ‘Amabashya’ ‘Purnima’ ‘Amabashya’ (Full moon) (New moon) (Full moon) (New moon) Acetes japonicus, Mystus gulio, Lates calcarifer, A. japonicus, Sepia sp., A. japonicus, H. A. japonicus, Arius sps., Cynoglossus spp., Drepane Gerres sps., Lutjanus nehereus, Mugil Sepia sp., T. longimanna, Loligo sp. Harpodon nehereus, spp., H.nehereus, spp., M. savala Mugil spp., Eleutheronema tetradactylum, Polynemus paradiseus, monoceros, Setipinna taty, Trichurus savala, Coilia P. argentius, Therapon P. merguiensis, dussumirei, Escualosa thoracata, Metapenaeus jarbua, Penaeus E. tetradactylum, monoceros, Penaeus merguiensis, M. brevicornis, semisulcatus, P. S. taty Neptunus spp., Nematopalaeomon tenuipes. japonicus, Neptunus Otolithes spp., Trichurus savala, Penaeus indicus spp., Trichurus spp .
Source: Focus group Discussion (FGD) with experienced fishers, May 2006, Cox’sBazar
Fishers try to follow the maximum ‘line of penetration’ of freshwater into the sea; they opine that most of the fishes ‘love to visit’ freshwater zone or ‘mixture zone’ at certain stage of their lives. Depending on volume and tidal condition, freshwater is believed to enter a few kilometers straight into the sea as it is ‘light’ compared to seawater and hence tends to remain on the top of the surface. A few fishermen also believe that freshwater turns into enters as ‘underwater current’ when the mass enters the sea. It is widely perceived that fishes abound at Gulitder spot because of the fact that freshwater
12 The phenomena of avoiding light (diurnal or vertical migration and deep scattering layer) by animals can have a number of adaptive advantages like avoidance of predators, keeping away from certain fouling secretions of photosynthesis by certain phytoplankton etc.
22 from Padma-Meghna mighty rivers penetrates too deep and carries huge silt that produces huge food for the fishes.
Legend: 1. Penaeus sps. 2. Acetes sps. ‘Iskiri’, 3. ‘Churi’ (Lepturacanthus savala), 4. ‘Loitta’ (Harpodon neherius), 5. ‘Phaissa’ (Thryssa spp.) 6. ‘Poa’ 7. Pomfrets 8. Mugil sps.’ 9. ‘Olua’ (Coilia dussumieri) and 10. Crabs
Figure 5: Seasonal abundance of catches in ‘estuarine set bag net (‘ behundi ’)
10. Synergistic roles from development project:
The ECFC project (Empowerment of Coastal Fishing Communities for Livelihood Security, GoB/UNDP/FAO project: BGD/97/017, 2001-2006) played a significant role in mobilizing the community through organizing fishers and stakeholders for the protection and conservation of the coastal resources. Given the tottering state of fisheries resources in the Bay of Bengal, it is increasingly realized that without the active participation of fishing communities and other stakeholders, it is impossible to rehabilitate and sustain coastal/marine fisheries. In this respect, the project infused a sense of realization among the fishing communities that there is no alternative left than
23 to take immediate and collective actions to stop the depleting trend of marine fish availability before it goes out of hand and reach a stage of irreversibility. Besides, the communities have also been able to comprehend that most of the fish acts and regulations, though appear to be anti-fishers in immediate and short-term, are in fact beneficial for them in the long run. Through massive awareness building programs, fishers realized the potential of their organizational strength, which could be utilized for rehabilitation and management of coastal fisheries resources and habitats for ensuring sustained benefits. Subsequently, adopting a bottom-up approach, fishers prepared modest achievable local action plans in all the eight upazillas and initiated implementation of those plans with due support from the local administration.
The Fisheries Management Advisory Committee (FMAC), led by chief of the upazilla administration and fishing community members of six gear based Fisheries Management Organizations (FMOs) met bi-monthly to review the progress of implementation of some important decisions. Fishers themselves spontaneously took nine decisions which proved very positive from safety and resource conservation contexts:
• Fishers will possess life jackets, life saving appliances and identity cards • Fishers will not catch shrimp fry and will not allow others in their territories. • Prevent the use of destructive monofilament net ( Current net ) and assist the local government to destroy these banned items. • Remove the low-meshed pockets of the seine nets • Taka 5 and Taka 2/month (Taka 65= 1U$) to be deposited for welfare fund and organizational management beyond the personal savings program. • At least 0.5 inch mesh for ESBN and 1 inch mesh for MSBN at the cod end. • No fishing in the monsoon months ( Ashar and Sraban ) • No catching of brood crabs and no use of sticks • Avoid local moneylending ‘ dadan’ gradually
Community themselves were actively engaged in rallying against illegal fishing, mangrove plantations, beach cleaning, turtle conservation, identification of the spots and users of destructive gears, burning destructive ‘current’ nets, drumming and miking for awareness raising. All these actions have been reinforced through the traditional village based institutions, which in turn strengthened the networking ability of these institutions. The impact of overwhelming participation of fishing communities in resource conservation related programs is huge. Fishing communities were becoming more vocal in raising their concerns related to destruction of habitats and use of destructive fishing gears and practices. There has been serious consensus building on destructive fishing gears and practices. Increasing interest of local government institutions and administration in conservation and responsible use of resources is also evident. A step further in this direction was the participation of FMOs and FMAC in fine tuning of the draft Marine Fisheries Strategy of the country, a first ever participation of fishing communities in developing national strategy for the development and conservation of marine resources. There were significant reduction in the use of destructive fishing gears and practices along project villages, especially shrimp seed collection using fine
24 meshed set bag nets and push nets, but unfortunately government later on lifted ban on shrimp fry fishing for stocking in shrimp culture ponds.
11. Conclusive view:
Probably, there is no denial of that fact that in the present days of crises in coastal resource governance throughout the South Asia, there is a clear need of documentation and augmentation of the community-facilitated management practices. This article manifests that the knowledge and practices of the fishers are reflective of and molded by the immediate ecosystem, they fish for livelihoods. The socio-cultural construction of the knowledge and practices are important for sustainable uses of the aquatic resources and also the very existence of the communities. An experienced hereditary coastal fisher is a perfected local decision-maker; a hydrographer with ample knowledge of semi-diurnal cycles and seasonality; an ecologist and environmentalist who observed the immediate environment for decades; a self-made meteorologist who can forecast on the basis of cloud movement and color, wind speed and wave pattern; a flawless cosmologist who decides about location and direction seeing the stars; and a practical taxonomist and biologist. He symbolizes the ‘power of indigenous knowledge and practices’- kind of deep enlightened power originating from experience and perfection in accumulated ideas about the surrounding world. What is needed most in Bangladesh is the increasing commitment of the government agencies to legalize and accommodate knowledge, practices and institutional arrangements of fishers with due respect to their social and cultural value systems.
Acknowledgement: I pay tribute to the coastal fishers of south-east Bangladesh; Dr. C. Emdad Haque and Dr. Fikret Berkes of the Natural resources Institute, University of Manitoba; Dr. Dilip Kumar and Amirul Islam (ECFC Project) and the IASC organizers.
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Figure 6: A traditional boat with eye of goddess ‘Ganga’.
Figure 7: Traditional Hindu fishers in a village level meeting.
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