1 A DIALOGUE ON MANAGING KARNATAKA’S FISHERIES Organized by College of Fisheries, Mangalore Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University (www. cofmangalore.org) & Dakshin Foundation, Bangalore (www.dakshin.org) Sponsored by National Fisheries Development Board, Hyderabad Workshop Programme Schedule Day 1 (8th December 2011) Registration Inaugural Ceremony Session 1: Introduction to the workshop and its objectives-Ramachandra Bhatta and Aarthi Sridhar(Dakshin) Management of fisheries – experiences with ‘solutions’- Aarthi Sridhar Group discussions: Identifying the burning issues in Karnataka’s fisheries. Presentation by each group Session 2: Community based monitoring – experiences from across the world- Sajan John (Dakshin) Discussion Day 2 (9th December 2011) Session 3: Overview of the marine ecosystems and state of Fisheries Marine ecosystems - dynamics and linkages- Naveen Namboothri (Dakshin) State of Karnataka Fisheries- Dinesh Babu (CMFRI, Mangalore) Discussion Session 4: Co-management in fisheries Co-management experiences from Kerala and Tamil Nadu- Marianne Manuel (Dakshin) Discussion: What role can communities play in the management of Karnataka’s fisheries? Day 3 (10th December 2011) Field session Field visit to Meenakaliya fishing village to experiment with the idea of 2-way learning processes in fisheries Group Discussion Feedback from the participants and concluding remarks 1 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Format of the workshop 4 Concerns with fisheries 5 Transitions in fishing technologies and methods 5 Changes in fisheries demography 6 Trends in fish catch 6 Regulations for fisheries management 7 Fisheries infrastructure 8 Factors affecting marine ecosystems 8 Community involvement in fisheries management 9 Co-management 9 Community-based monitoring and fisheries management 10 Recommendations 12 Conclusion 15 References 15 List of participants 16 List of fish and fishing gear in operation 19 Workshop photos 20 2 Introduction The southern coastal state of Karnataka has a 300 km long coastline with a continental shelf measuring nearly 25000 km2 (Mohamed, 1998). Referred historically as the “mackerel coast”, Karnataka continues to contribute significantly to India’s seafood industry. According to the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI 2005) Karnataka has 37,632 active marine fishers, 170,914 total fisher population, and 15,655 numbers of total fishing crafts. According to Government of Karnataka (GOK 2009) more than 60 per cent of the total fishers are small scale fishers. In 2007-08, 4.24 per cent of the total Indian fish catch was landed in Karnataka. The inherent rich inland waters and rivers at the foot of the Western Ghats, with 27,000 sq km of Indian EEZ are the parts of Karnataka marine fisheries. A review of sector wise status of marine fisheries over the last decade shows that the mechanised crafts have a lion’s share of around 88 per cent in terms of both quantity and value terms. In traditional sector, Patte-bale and Matu-bale (traditional gears) are the most popular gears and are operated mainly during the monsoon season (June to August). The major catch of Matu-bale gear consists of penaied prawns, sardine, mackerel, croakers and carangids. Results shows that the share of non-mechanised/traditional sector declined from 59 per cent in 1977 to 6 percent in 2009. The average catch rate per non-mechanised unit has declined from 1.03 metric tons in 1984-85 to 0.35 metric tons in 2008-09, a decline by around than 3 times. The catch rate of mechanised units has declined from 46 metric tons in 1990 to 12 metric tons in 2008-09. Further, the catch per unit of fishing unit/year has also declined from 17.70 tons in 1976-77 to 12.43 tons per year in 2008-2009 representing a decline of 30 per cent. The attributes of Karnataka’s present day fishery, marked by an overall decline in fish catch, increased mechanisation and over-capacity of craft and gear, interact with other social factors to create tensions between different categories of fishing communities. It is necessary to revisit the existing fisheries management policies and practices within the state. In order to initiate an open debate amongst fishworker leaders and representatives and key fisheries officials on managing the state’s fisheries, a 3-day workshop was organised for fishers from three coastal districts of Karnataka and Goa and North Malabar districts of Kerala. The major objective of this workshop was to start a dialogue among all the stakeholders to identify the burning issues in Karnataka’s marine fisheries; to understand the role that each stakeholder can play in sustaining the fishery resource; and the possible solutions that could emerge to manage fisheries such as the idea of co-management. The principal outcome of this endeavour was to identify specific practical activities for collaborative work between various stakeholders as an experiment in co-management, within the district of Dakshina Kannada. 3 Format of the workshop The first day of the workshop began with a formal inauguration facilitated by Dr. Ramachandra Bhatta. The inaugural ceremony was attended by key figures who will be important collaborators for future progress on fisheries co-management in the state. These included Mr.Nithin, Kumar (President KFDC), Mr.Yashpal Suvarna (President, South Kanara & Udupi Dst. Coop. Fish Marketing Federation, Mangalore), Mr. Prabhakara Rao (Secretary, Coastal Development Authority), Dr.Vasudev Byndoor (University Board member) and Prof. K.M.Shanker (Dean, Fisheries College). Aarthi Sridhar from Dakshin Foundation made a brief presentation titled ‘Management of fisheries – experiences with ‘solutions’ ‘to introduce the context of the workshop and its relevance for Karnataka’s fisheries. Once the objectives of the dialogue were introduced and discussed, all participants were divided into four groups each having an equal representation from all fishing sectors, the state fisheries department and from the scientific community. The objective of the group discussion sessions was to identify ‘burning issues’ faced by the marine fishery sector of Karnataka as opined by the participants. After the group discussion, representatives from each group presented their findings of the group discussion and possible solutions for the issues. Sajan John from Dakshin foundation made a presentation titled ‘Community monitoring of coastal and marine resources – experiences across the world.’ The aim of the presentation was to convey the idea of community-based monitoring and community-based management of marine resources, regions where it has been experimented with, results from these locations and to initiate a discussion on the feasibility of such approaches in Karnataka’s fisheries. Day-2 began with a presentation by Dr. Naveen Namboothri (Dakshin Foundation) on an ‘Overview of the marine ecosystems and linkages’ followed by a presentation by Dr. Dinesh Babu from CMFRI titled ‘State of Karnataka Fisheries’ and a presentation by Marianne Manuel (Dakshin Foundation) titled ‘Co-management experiences from Kerala and Tamil Nadu’. The presentations aimed to highlight the state of scientific ecological knowledge thus far regarding oceans and seas and served to link biotic and abiotic factors that affect the production of marine resources. The presentation on co-management experiments elsewhere in India reveal the result of participatory experiments that have been initiated in Kerala and Tamil Nadu with the active involvement of fishing communities and state government. After the presentations, an open discussion was facilitated based on the same. Day-3 was a planned field exercise, with participants venturing into the field to get first hand information on different ways of understanding and interpreting data on fisheries through interactions with communities. The content of this report has been prepared by the extensive discussions and presentations that took place during the workshop. We have taken the liberty of synthesising the opinions that emerged in the workshop, taking care to set apart divergent views of different groups about the state of Karnataka’s fisheries and ways to manage the same. 4 Concerns with fisheries In tropical waters with an over-capacity of fishing vessels and fishing effort has been a long standing concern. This ‘over-mechanisation’ causes not only a class divide between the fishing communities but also places an undue strain on the marine ecosystem. The traditional fishers either become adversaries, demanding explicit rights from the state or end up joining the labour force of the mechanised fleet. Scientific studies have shown that the over-exploitation of higher trophic species from an ecosystem will adversely impact the trophic structure of a complex ecosystem (Pauly et al; 2000). The uncontrolled removal of top predators results in an imbalance in the populations of species down the food chain, resulting in a profusion of some species and a decimation of others. Most the fisheries management initiatives now focus on ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) rather than on single species management. This impacts the availability of other commercially important fish species. Karnataka’s fisheries show the symptoms of over-exploitation and its concomitant impacts. At present most fishers (particularly from the traditional sector) are surviving not because of their catches but because of the increasing price of fish. The number of mechanised crafts and the intensity of fishing operations in