UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Fishing for space: Socio-spatial relations of Indian trawl fishers in the Palk Bay, South Asia, in the context of trans-boundary fishing Stephen, J. Publication date 2015 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Stephen, J. (2015). Fishing for space: Socio-spatial relations of Indian trawl fishers in the Palk Bay, South Asia, in the context of trans-boundary fishing. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:03 Oct 2021 Palk Bay, in South Asia is witnessing a complex socio- ecological crisis. This crisis is intrinsically tied to the modernization of fsheries in the region, the civil war in Sri Lanka and the politics of ethnic identity. This crisis now manifests itself in the form of a fshing confict between the Indian trawl fshers and the small scale fshers of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. This research takes a spatial perspective to better understand this confict from the Indian side. The socio-spatial relations of the Indian trawl fshers with regard to their continued access into present day Sri Lankan waters, are studied. Further, these socio-spatial relations are analyzed using various spatial dimensions, particularly territory, scale, place and network. FISHING FOR SPACE Socio-spatial relations of Indian trawl fshers in the Palk Bay, South Asia, in the context of trans-boundary fshing Cover photos: Johny Stephen Map: Palk Bay Western Portion ,Chart No: 317. Source: National Hydrographic Ofce, Dehradun, India JOHNY STEPHEN FISHING FOR SPACE Socio-spatial relations of Indian trawl fshers in the Palk Bay, South Asia, in the context of trans-boundary fshing Johny Stephen Fishing for Space Socio-spatial relations of Indian trawl fshers in the Palk Bay, South Asia, in the context of trans-boundary fshing ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnifcus prof. dr. D.C. van den Boom ten overstaan van een door het College voor Promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op donderdag 16 april 2015, te 12:00 uur door Johny Stephen geboren te Chennai, India PROMOTIECOMMISSIE PROMOTOR: Prof. dr. I.S.A. Baud (University of Amsterdam) COPROMOTORES: Dr. J.M. Bavinck (University of Amsterdam) Dr. A. Menon (Madras Institute of Development Studies) OVERIGE LEDEN: Prof. dr. B. Hersoug (University of Tromso) Prof. dr. D. Parthasarathy (Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai) Prof. dr. J. Gupta (University of Amsterdam) Prof. dr. H.W. van Schendel (University of Amsterdam) Dr. V.D. Mamadouh (University of Amsterdam) Faculteit der Maatschappij – en Gedragswetenschappen Funding for the research This research was primarily funded by the Dutch Organisation for Scientifc Research (NWO) - COCOON programme (NWO/WOTRO project number W076830200). In addition the Amsterdam Institute of Social Sciences (AISSR) provided a small grant to support my stay in The Netherlands for a year. Table of Contents Acknowledgements..........................................i Notes on transliteration and currency ..........................iii Details of co-authorship.....................................iv 1 Introduction ............................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ...............................................2 1.2 The research agenda .........................................8 1.3 Theory ...................................................11 1.4 Methodology ..............................................23 1.5 Limitations................................................31 1.6 Ethics....................................................32 1.7 Reading guide .............................................32 2 The Palk Bay ............................................39 2.1 Introduction ..............................................40 2.2 Bio-physical nature of Palk Bay ...............................41 ............................42 2.4 The trawl sector of Palk Bay .................................44 ......................................45 2.6 Conclusion................................................58 3 Territory: Fluid territories: Rethinking state territorialisation in Palk Bay, South Asia ...................................61 3.1 Introduction ..............................................62 3.2 Conceptualising territorialisation ..............................64 ...................................66 3.4 The Blue Revolution and the State’s attempt at territorialisation .....67 3.5 Lived territory: beyond State territorialisation....................71 3.6 Conclusion................................................77 4 Scale: Transboundary dialogues and the politics of scale in Palk Bay fsheries: brothers at sea? ......................85 4.1 Introduction ..............................................86 4.2 Theory of collective action and scalar dynamics..................88 4.3 Methodology ..............................................90 .................91 4.5 Towards the August 2010 Agreement: a common solution? ........94 4.6 Probing ‘the community’ ....................................96 4.7 Moving across spatial scales: the politics of identity...............97 4.8 Conclusion...............................................101 5 Place: A place to live and fsh: relational placemaking among the trawl fshers of Palk Bay, India .................109 5.1 Introduction .............................................111 5.2 Methods and methodology..................................112 5.3 Results ..................................................124 5.4 Discussion ...............................................126 5.5 Conclusion...............................................129 6 Network: In search of elusive agency: applying Actor Network Theory (ANT) to the trawl fsheries in Palk Bay, India........................................137 6.1 Introduction .............................................138 ........................140 6.3 On Actor Network Theory .................................141 .............................143 6.5 Methods.................................................145 6.6 Tracing the networks.......................................146 6.7 Strategies of the network ...................................150 6.7 Discussion ...............................................152 6.9 Conclusion...............................................154 7 Conclusion.............................................159 7.1 Revisiting the research question ..............................161 7.2 Understanding the socio-spatial relations of .....................................168 7.3 Beyond the TSPN approach.................................169 7.4 Integrating socio-spatial theory ..............................172 7.5 Implications for governance and policy........................174 7.6 Lessons from the REINCORPFISH project ...................175 Summary ..............................................179 Samenvatting ..........................................182 Appendix 1: Questions for trawl owners ......................185 Appendix 2: Rameswaram and Mandapam mechanized boat owner’s survey........................................186 Appendix 3 ....................................187 Appendix 4............192 Acknowledgements nothing would have been possible without the active support of my supervision team. I owe deep gratitude to Maarten Bavinck for initiating and guiding me in the PhD process. Though we started looking for PhD projects back in 2007 it was made possible only in 2011. Not only did he not give up on me, he also actively encouraged me to choose a topic that I was comfortable with. As mentioned elsewhere his enthusiasm is infectious and I consider myself lucky to have worked with him. Ajit Menon, my other supervisor was more a friend than a supervisor. He was a wonderful companion throughout this process. I am grateful for all his time and effort. More importantly I appreciate his patience in listening and engaging with my ideas. As the Promotor, Prof Isa Baud has always been a steady source of support in all matters relating to the PhD. Rameswaram and Mandapam. Many of them spared large amounts of their time for me and patiently answered my many questions. I am deeply indebted to Mr Richard, Mr Basker, Robin, Ignatius Aster, and Mr Ganapathy for being there for me all the time and helping me in any way they could during my visits to Rameswaram. Joeri Scholtens, my colleague and partner in crime deserves a special acknowledgement. Joeri and his partner Roos were instrumental in making our stay in The Netherlands a smooth one. In addition Joeri has always been a constant