Strengthening the legal framework on Coastal Commons Aarthi Sridhar The Coastal Regulation Zone, 2011 which is the dominant policy on coastal governance in India, makes a reference to ‘traditional rights and customary uses’ of coastal space by coastal communities, but it does not elaborate on what the terms ‘rights’ and ‘uses’ encompass. Today, India’s coasts…
Monitoring fish catch in the Muttukadu Lagoon Naveen Namboothri Lagoons are highly productive ecosystems and provide a range of social and ecological services. They are rich breeding grounds for a number of marine species, regulate flooding, provide protection from storms and are sites of aesthetic beauty. Many of India’s lagoons are degraded due to a…
Fisheries resource monitoring in Karnataka Naveen Namboothri, Sajan John Historically referred to as the ‘mackerel coast’, Karnataka contributes significantly to India’s seafood industry. However, if one were to look beyond the benchmarks of ‘total catch’ and ‘Mean Sustainable Yield’, a different picture of its fisheries emerges. The characteristics of present-day fisheries in Karnataka shows not…
Addressing fisheries governance and management in the Andaman Islands Aarthi Sridhar, Naveen Namboothri, Sahir Advani The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have rich marine resources that support a range of fisheries across the length of the islands. Fishers from different parts of India have been settled in these islands as a result of which there is…
Fisheries and sea snakes Chetan Rao, Shawn Dsouza, Muralidharan M, Kartik Shanker, Naveen Namboothri Introduction Sea snakes are diverse and unique reptiles adapted to marine habitats. They are widespread and are found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. There are around 70 species of true sea snakes (Family: Hydrophidae) found in the Indian and Pacific…
Conservation and outreach through coastal networks Turtle Action Group Rhea George, Kartik Shanker, Muralidharan M., Naveen Namboothri Established in 2009, the Turtle Action Group (TAG) is a collective of NGOs and individuals from the Indian subcontinent working towards sea turtle conservation and research. The aim of the network is to provide a platform for the…
REEF LOG: an underwater citizen science programme for monitoring India’s marine ecosystems Tanmay Wagh, Kartik Shanker, Naveen Namboothri Professional researcher-based ecological monitoring is often highly expensive, logistically demanding and patchy in space and time. Underwater monitoring programmes should cover as many if not all components of the system, including the important coral, herbivore, carnivore and…
Monitoring and conservation of leatherback turtles and their habitats in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Adhith Swaminathan, Kartik Shanker Very little is known about the status of leatherback populations from Indian waters, barring work by ANET on Great Nicobar Island in the early 2000s, and the surveys conducted by the CES, Dakshin and ANET on…
Governance and leadership in fishing communities in Ramanathapuram district, Tamil Nadu Marianne Manuel, Aarthi Sridhar The demand for decentralisation of governance and inclusive policy-making has been made repeatedly by civil society organisations for several decades with only a few halting steps of progress in this direction. Today, there are both internal as well as international…
