Enhancing the Wellbeing of Tamil Fishing Communities (and Government Bureaucrats too): The role of ur panchayats along the Coromandel Coast, India

Abstract

Legal pluralism is a prominent feature in the fisheries of Nagapattinam and Karaikal Districts, India, and it is with the role of customary village councils (ur panchayat) that this chapter is concerned. Ur panchayats still constitute a major force in protecting and facilitating the wellbeing of small-scale fishers in this region. The chapter considers the structure, scope and activities of ur panchayats and positions them on a scale running from `traditional' to `modern'. It describes their functions with regard to social, economic and environmental dimensions of fisher wellbeing and looks into two contemporary hot issues: the incidence of pair trawling and ringseining. The chapter also examines the value of ur panchayats for their counterparts in government. It asserts that although ur panchayats engage in multiple wellbeing processes and produce important outcomes, they are independently not able to deal with all the challenges that face small-scale fisheries.