Factoring social and cultural dimensions into food and livelihood security issues of marine fisheries: A case study of Kerala state, India

Abstract

Some of the social and cultural aspects of marine fishing communities, as they emerge in the course of the pursuit for food and livelihood, are the subjects of this paper. The focus is on the marine fishery of Kerala State, India and attempts to show how these dimensions evolved in the context of very specific resource and ecological determinants. Social and cultural dimensions have been often considered a "drag" on the transformation of societies into modern entities. However, the numerous failures encountered when development is given an exclusively techno-economic orientation, provide the basis for a new search to give meaning to hitherto neglected socio-cultural norms. This search is all the more relevant in this era of globalisation that set into momentum the tendency to homogenize social and cultural specificity. The sustainability of any society will depend in large measure on the degree of diversity and self-reliance that it is able to maintain with regard to reproducing its social and cultural concomitants. At the core of this are issues pertaining to the food and livelihood security of its people. The paper examines the visible manifestations of deeper social and cultural attributes in the marine fishery sector, which have been fashioned over a very long history. The list includes: the nature of the sharing patterns in the fishery; traditional knowledge and technology; the old and new institutional arrangements in fishing communities; fish and the question food security; and the role of women.

Full text

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February 2000
FACTORING SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DIMENSIONS
INTO FOOD AND LIVELIHOOD SECURITY ISSUES
OF MARINE FISHERIES
A Case Study of Kerala State, India
John Kurien
Working Paper No. 299

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FACTORING SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DIMENSIONS INTO
FOOD AND LIVELIHOOD SECURITY ISSUES
OF MARINE FISHERIES
A Case Study of Kerala State, India
John Kurien
Centre for Development Studies
Thiruvananthapuram
February 2000
This is a revised version of a paper presented at the Workshop on Social
and Cultural Aspects of Fisheries held at the University of Colorado,
USA in November 1999. I am grateful to James McGoodwin, Richard
Pollanac, P.K.Michael Tharakan and an anonymous referee for comments
and suggestions. They bear no responsibility for errors that may remain.

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ABSTRACT
Some of the social and cultural aspects of marine fishing
communities, as they emerge in the course of the pursuit for food and
livelihood, are the subjects of this paper. The focus is on the marine
fishery of Kerala State, India and attempts to show how these dimensions
evolved in the context of very specific resource and ecological
determinants. Social and cultural dimensions have been often considered
a "drag" on the transformation of societies into modern entities. However,
the numerous failures encountered when development is given an
exclusively techno-economic orientation, provide the basis for a new
search to give meaning to hitherto neglected socio-cultural norms.
This search is all the more relevant in this era of globalisation that
set into momentum the tendency to homogenize social and cultural
specificity. The sustainability of any society will depend in large measure
on the degree of diversity and self-reliance that it is able to maintain
with regard to reproducing its social and cultural concomitants. At the
core of this are issues pertaining to the food and livelihood security of
its people.
The paper examines the visible manifestations of deeper social
and cultural attributes in the marine fishery sector, which have been
fashioned over a very long history. The list includes: the nature of the
sharing patterns in the fishery; traditional knowledge and technology;
the old and new institutional arrangements in fishing communities; fish
and the question food security; and the role of women.
JEL Classification: O17 ; O20: Q22
Key Words: Marine fisheries, Kerala State; social and cultural
dimensions; ecological determinants; food and livelihood security;

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INTRODUCTION
The social and cultural aspects of every society evolve in the
context of certain interacting ecological, demographic, technological and
economic characteristics particular to it. The ecological and related
resource determinants are characteristics that tend to exhibit a fair degree
of stability since they are significantly nature-determined. The
demographic, technological and economic variables seem to undergo a
greater degree of change, as they are products of human enterprise. The
social and cultural aspects, which arise from this historical nature-human
interaction, takes effect within a workaday routine of livelihood and
provide the element of specificity to the society. They accumulate over
time and form a corpus of certain behavioural facets of a people. In the
more ancient societies, such as those in Asia, these socio-cultural traits
have been handed down largely through learning-by-doing and oral
traditions of songs, stories and sayings. They evolve to represent a "world
view" of the communities and represent in succinct fashion a coherent
"practice-knowledge-belief" system (Gadgil et al, 1993).
The social and cultural aspects of developing societies were
considered to be a "drag" on their transformation into modern economies.
For example, certain communitarian principles and diet preferences,
which had evolved in the context of resource fragility and population
pressure, were perceived to be barriers to technological change and

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market expansion. The many failures of the largely techno-economic
orientation to development policies, provide the basis for a new search.
A search for giving fresh meaning to hitherto neglected socio-cultural
norms before they are transformed beyond recognition.
The initial resource and ecological context of fish, and much of
the traditional techno-economic aspects of fisheries in the tropical
developing countries of Asia, have given rise to a considerable fund of
socio-cultural features which are rooted in the context of people's pursuit
for livelihood and food security. Examining some facets of this neglected
reality, provide an opportunity to assess their continued relevance for
the inextricably intertwined objectives of maintaining the integrity of
the ecosystem and ensuring the food and livelihood security of the
community.
Such a pursuit also attains particular relevance in this era of
globalisation that often entails a continual substitution of culture and
cultural knowledge by objective knowledge and formal institutions. This
process sets into momentum tendencies for homogenization of social
and cultural specificities. In the long run this threatens the variety and
diversity of both the practices and the visions which societies have about
their future. The sustainability of any society will depend in large measure
on the degree of diversity and self-reliance that it is able to maintain
with regard to reproducing its social and cultural concomitants. At the
core of this are issues pertaining to the food and livelihood security of
its people.
This paper pertains to Kerala State, the leading maritime province
of India. Kerala has a unique fishery resource context that is intertwined
with certain specific techno-economic and socio-cultural features of its
marine fishery. This provides an interesting example of how fishery
managers can benefit from fathoming current practice for deeper

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meanings that can make significant contributions to just, participatory
and sustainable fisheries development and management.
FISH AND FISHERIES OF KERALA STATE
The Ecological and Socio-cultural Context
Kerala is a small state situated at the southwestern end of the Indian
peninsular. It has a coastline of about 600 kilometres and is only 100
kilometres across at the widest point. It is bounded snugly between the
Arabian Sea and the range of high hills called the Western Ghats. There
is an age-old tradition about the origins of this narrow strip of land. It is
said that a sage called Parasurama, much like the turbulent god Thor of
the Nordic myth, flung his battle-axe far out into the heaving Arabian
Sea only to see the waters recede and the land of Kerala, emerge into the
sun and air (Chaitanya, 1994).
There is very good evidence that the land of Kerala has been shaped
by a geological upheaval. The Western Ghats that form the eastern
boundary of the state appear thrown back and heaped up, as if a deluge
burst through them. Marine fossils including coral reefs have been
unearthed in the present midlands pointing to the fact that the sea once
extended right unto the foot of the Ghats. Geologists are of the opinion
that the subterranean passages, dating back from the cataclysm, form
the basis of the extensive network of rivers, backwaters and lagoons that
criss-cross the state today. There are 41 west-flowing rivers with an
average length of 64 kilometers each. They have their sources in the
dense tropical rain forests on the Ghats. The lagoons and backwaters,
which experience the tidal effect even 50 kilometers upstream since much
of this land lies below sea-level, cover an estimated area of 355,000
hectares (Government of Kerala, 1983).

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The nutrients from the hills and forests are washed down with
torrential monsoon rain. This accumulating silt finds its way through
these waterways into the littoral currents of the coastal waters. Here,
during the monsoon, they lead to the formation of mud-banks called
"chakara". These mud-banks, which form strange havens of calm
anchorage particularly when the sea is rough, have been known to the
mariners of ancient times who have visited Kerala. When these banks
form, they teem with fish and prawns.
Mention of the fishery resource plenitude and the fishing
communities of this region are found in the early poems of the 1st- 4th
Century AD called the Sangam Age (Pillai & Ludden, 1997), and the
writings of Pliny, a geographer and famous Roman traveller of the 1st
century AD (Ray, 1993). In later centuries (7th and 8th AD) the Arab
traders found their way to the northern part of Kerala by following the
teeming shoals of oil sardines which migrate down the west coast of
India hugging close to the in-shore waters. Friar Ororic who sailed down
the southwest coast of India in 1320 observed that:
"there are fishes in those seas that come swimming … in
such abundance that for a great distance into the seas
nothing can be seen but the back of fishes, which casting
themselves on the shore, do suffer men for the space of
three daies ( days) to come and take on many of them as
they please." (Quoted in Day, 1865).
More recent periods of colonial rule in a northern region of present
day Kerala (also called Malabar) saw the systematic documentation of
the flora and fauna for the scientific value of ichthyology. Francis Day's
"Fishes of Malabar" (Day, 1865) was one of the kind. The coastal waters
of the southern region of present day Kerala (also called Travancore)

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were calculated to yield about 250 kilograms per hectare of coastal water
which:
"is double the quantity produced by an acre of water
considered to be rich by the fishery experts of the world"
(Velu Pillai, 1940).
The potential annual yield of the coastal waters was estimated at
half a million tonnes. This resource plenitude made administrators
speculate that the poor fishery of that time could become the Cinderella
of industries in Kerala in the future.
The Western Ghats isolated the land of Kerala from the rest of the
subcontinent. This accounts for the significantly different socio-cultural
features of the people of this state compared to the rest of the Indian sub-
continent. They seem to have been more open to the influences of other
cultures coming to them across the seas. Through the ages the
Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Syrians, Moors, Arabs,
Chinese, Dutch, Jews, Danes, French, Portuguese and the English, in
their respective times, have vied for the spices and the timbers of this
land in exchange for gold, linen, ceramics and other luxury products
(Curtin,1984; Arasaratnam, 1994). Over the 20 to 30 centuries, these
communities have not only exchanged their wares but also left their
imprints on the techno-economic and socio-cultural, fabric of the people
of Kerala. These influences are evident in numerous technologies in
traditional occupations, in the architectural designs, the nuances of
language and the food habits. All the major religions in the world had
made their early presence in Kerala and these communities, that exhibited
great economic inter-dependence, lived together in harmony, giving and
taking from each other's cultural foundations. The narrow coastal tract
of the region became the cultural melting pot.

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At different periods in the history of the last millennium, the carriers
of the so-called Aryan tradition, the Arabs and the Portuguese, came to
have considerable influence on the socio-religious aspects of the coastal
fishing communities of Kerala who were damned as "impure" and
"untouchable" within the strictly Brahmanic terms of Indian culture.
Given the multi-religious cosmopolitanism of this coast, Kerala is the
only maritime state in India (there are nine in all), where the Muslim,
Hindu and Christian marine fishing communities have a significant
presence. The Muslim fishing communities dominate the northern coastal
region, the Hindus are concentrated in the central region and the Christian
are in the majority in the south. These communities are also marked by
separate maritime traditions and fishing technologies both of which have
been influenced by the trade and cultural influences with which the
particular community has been associated (Ray, 1994). Equally, perhaps
more importantly, factors pertaining to the physical oceanography and
the marine resource configuration of the waters in which they fish have
been overriding factors in shaping traditions and technologies. A famous
treatise of the 12th century called Valavisu Puranam (An Epic on Fishing)
contains several references to the method of fishing in vogue and to the
arts and sciences relating to fishing.
The ecological setting of a narrow strip of land interlaced with a
network of rivers, lagoons and backwaters flowing into a nutrient enriched
coastal sea ensured a plenitude of aquatic resources. This factor, clubbed
with the diversity of the fishing technology, provided the socio-ecological
basis for fish becoming an integral part of the cuisine of this region of
the Indian sub-continent. With the land being criss-crossed with water,
the human settlement pattern in Kerala became both very dense (on
average 750 per square kilometre) and yet widely dispersed. This, in the
main, accounted for more decentralized commodity barter and exchange
networking between fish producers and fish consumers. Along the

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coastline, however, the marine fishing population, numbering over
700,000 in all, was spread along the 600-kilometer coastline in 220
densely populated agglomerations huddled in areas no wider than half a
kilometre from the seafront. This makes the marine fishing villages of
Kerala the most densely populated (2330 per sq.km) among the maritime
states of India.
Kerala State is also unique in that all religious groups including
the Hindus -- who are strict vegetarians in most other parts of India - are
avid fish consumers. This fact reiterates the important determining role
of the ecological setting in shaping food preferences. Fish has thus
become a culturally important and indispensable part of the diet. In this
most densely populated state of India, it is estimated that 96 percent of
the 30 million population eat fish (Srivastava et al, 1991) With rice as
the main source of carbohydrate, fish is an indispensable component of
the food intake of both the rich and the poor. There is a variety of rice
called Pokkali, which can be grown in the brackish waters near the coast,
along with fish and prawns. Composite culture of rice and fish is also
practiced in the fresh water regions of the state. Fish accounts for over
three-quarter of the animal protein intake of the average Keralite. In the
fishing communities the share is naturally higher. The consumption ranges
between 15 - 20 kg/capita/year depending on the varying annual
availability. The all-India average is around 4 kg/capita/year (Government
of India, 1996)
For fishing communities the importance of fish to livelihood and
nutritional security can be gauged from the fact that oil sardines, the
most abundant marine specie, is called kutoombum-pularthi, which means
the "family provider" or "family caretaker". It is also the most popular
specie among the fish eating populace of Kerala. This nutritious fish has
found its way to the fish markets in every nook and corner of Kerala -

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initially in dried and salted form, but with the advent of ice in fresh
condition. Among the consumers, oil sardines are also referred to as the
poor family's protein. It combines deliciously well with tapioca (manioc)
which is another important source of carbohydrate of the people of Kerala
- particularly the poor.
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ASPECTS OF FISHERIES
Implications for Food and Livelihood Security
The examination of the social and cultural dimensions of fisheries
in Kerala will cover a few areas of concern, which have a continued
bearing on the future patterns of fisheries management in Kerala. These
need to be situated in the background of a particular modern history of
fisheries development in the region. Briefly stated, it is a history of state-
led "modernization" which attempted to copy the paradigm of the
northern, temperate fisheries model of standardization of craft and gear
so as to get the maximum output from the sea. The foundation for this
was laid by the world's first international tripartite development project
- the Indo-Norwegian Project for Fisheries Development, jointly overseen
by the United Nations, and the Governments of Norway and India (see
Klausen, 1968; Galtung, 1974 and Kurien, 1985 for details). This
development model got linked to an export orientation drive. For about
three decades from the formation of the state of Kerala in 1956, fisheries
development was associated almost totally with the catching and
exporting of shrimp.
The lopsidedness of this process, particularly its lack of
embeddedness in the techno-ecological and socio-cultural history of
fisheries in the region, and more importantly that it "left out" the majority
of the working fishing people from its ambit, came to the fore only in
the early 1980s. At that time, the real, artisanal fishing communities

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organised themselves to protest against the marginalisation which they
experienced as a result of this approach. It was fisheries development
without fishworkers development and an ecological and socio-cultural
disaster as far as they were concerned (See Kurien, 1992).
What I will highlight in this paper are some of the important
dimensions of the fishery of Kerala that have not formed part of the
conventional "modernisation" agenda of fisheries development in Kerala.
The aspects examined and the insights offered are based on 25 years of
my first hand involvement with marine fishing communities in Kerala. I
spent the first five of these years living in fishing villages in the southern
Thiruvananthapuram district with a team of social activists. We were
helping the communities to market their fish more effectively; to
introduce appropriate technological changes in their fishing activity and
to make improvements in their overall quality of living.
The significance of these initiatives with fishing communities needs
to be set against the overall experience of socio-economic and cultural
transformation of Kerala State as a whole. Kerala has been held up as a
good example of a society that has achieved high levels of human
development without the usually accompanied pursuit of increasing
economic growth and incomes ( Franke & Chasin, 1994; Jeffery, 1992;
Panikar and Soman, 1984). This has been achieved by a long history of
people's participation in a variety of socio-religious and political
movements that shaped public policy towards achieving higher literacy,
better health and nutrition and the accompanying increases in life
expectancy. On a human development index criterion, Kerala State tops
the states of India and is at par with many developed nations (Kannan,
1999). These comparisons, however, reflect the average situation. The
point has been made that this "central tendency" hides the conditions of
certain "outlier" communities which do not conform to these norms for

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the important reason that they were not part of the mainstream socio-
religious and political movements mentioned above. Their socio-
economic conditions left much to be desired. The Christian and Muslim
fishing communities in Kerala certainly fall into this group (Kurien,
1994). It is in response to this situation that social activists entered these
communities three decades ago.
This close association with the fishing community became a great
asset in my subsequent pursuits as an activist-researcher. I was able to
closely investigate numerous issues pertaining to the political economy
of fisheries development as well as various techno-economic and socio-
cultural aspects - most often with the close cooperation of the
communities themselves.
The contents of this paper are also based on the findings of my
earlier published studies. What I examine here are the visible
manifestations of deeper social and cultural attributes fashioned over a
very long history. The list includes: the nature of the sharing patterns in
the fishery; traditional knowledge and technology; the old and new
institutional arrangements in fishing communities; the question of fish
and food security; and the role of women.
I consider the above to be matters which have a more important
bearing on the livelihood and food security of both the marine fishing
communities of Kerala in particular, and its millions of avid fish
consumers in general. I also consider these issues crucial to any future
prescription for a just and participatory fisheries development and
management which will augur well for both the resource and the people.
The discussions on the issue of fish and food security issues as well as
the role of women, extend to all the fish consuming households of Kerala
and not just those in fishing communities.

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1. SHARING PATTERNS
The socio-cultural embeddedness of the fish economy of Kerala
is most evident when we examine the patterns adopted in the sharing of
the fish harvest and the income derived from its sale. The share system
in a fishery can be viewed merely as an efficient mechanism for spreading
risks between capital and labour. What is often missed is that, inherent
in these patterns of sharing, is a deeply instituted process of care and
concern. This dimension also calls to question the implicit assumptions
of the modern market society which has tended to institutionalise the
motive of "gain and profit" as the principal reason for material interaction
between human beings.
Fish Sharing Patterns
The fish sharing patterns in the artisanal fishery are very much
conditioned by the fishing community's perspective of the fishery
resource as a community property. Though only a small proportion of
the fishing community is involved in the labour process to harvest the
resource from the sea, the strong socio-cultural concern requires that the
benefits accruing from it should be spread as widely as possible in the
community which inhabit the fishing villages.
An important manifestation of this concern, is found on the beach
landing centres at fishing villages. The first charge on fish brought ashore
from a fishing trip is for those in the fishing communities who have no
possibility to go to sea. These include persons such as widows, those
physically and mentally handicapped, those temporarily or permanently
maimed from accidents at sea and those who provide services to the
community like the barber. This can be viewed as a built-in community
care (social security) measure aimed at ensuring basic food and livelihood
security.

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Following this, the next priority is for the fish consumption needs
of the crew and the shore workers attached to the fishing unit who help
in launching and beaching the craft. Married women and girls who have
not attained puberty, play an important role in ensuring that this practice
continues by their presence at the beach landing centres to receive their
husbands and fathers and take the fish home to cook. Estimates of the
quantum of fish set aside in this manner to cater to the food security
needs of the community work out to between 5 and 7 percent of the
quantum of catch per fishing trip (Kurien and Willmann, 1982). Only
after these two needs are met is the remainder of the fish sold to traders
or taken to market.
Income Sharing Patterns
The fish that is put on sale is purchased by small-scale women
and men fish distributors. They carry fish to market on their heads or by
cycles and scooters. When landings are large wholesale merchants appear
and then use lorries to move the fish out to markets. In either case,
negotiation or auction determines the sale value. Depending on the terms,
the payment is either made in full or part. In the Hindu and Christian
communities the wives of the equipment owning fishermen play an
important role in this process by taking charge of the cash and negotiating
balances with the merchants. Their function as home fund managers is
vital.
The distribution of the income from the sale of fish is undertaken
after all the "common expenses" - those pertaining to the running expenses
such as fuel, food costs, auctioning commissions etc - are deducted. This
divisible income is first broadly apportioned into (i) an equipment share
(return to capital) and (ii) a crew share (return to labour). The crew
share is then divided in accordance with the number of crew, each getting
an equal portion. If a particular crewmember - such as the skipper or out

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board motor driver -- is entitled to a larger share, the crew contributes
this by setting aside a portion from what is due to them. Alternatively, it
is contributed by the owners of the equipment from the shares due to
them. What is important to note is that these norms of division are situated
in the context of communitarian livelihood norms composed of strong
social and cultural mores that do not change as rapidly as technology.
The income sharing patterns therefore, tend to be "sticky" and
biased towards providing adequate returns for labour. The karanila (shore
status) system found in an important fishery of Kerala State is an
illustrative example of how income sharing systems have evolved in the
context of changes in production relations and technology, keeping
community concerns for livelihood and nutritional security at centre-
stage.
The Karanila System:
Its Contribution to Livelihood and Nutritional Security
The karanila system is practiced in the encircling-net fishery of
Kerala State. It is located in the central coastal region in the Alapuzha
District. This is also the region where the chakara phenomenon develops
during the monsoon season yielding bumper harvests of oil sardines and
prawns (See Kurien and Vijayan, 1995). This system ensures that the
total number of fishermen present at the seashore and who "touch the
craft" at the start of the fishing trip, are considered the crew of the
respective unit for that day. From those present, the required number
will get into the craft and go fishing. These will generally include the
owners who are the permanent workers, and the group of "semi-
permanent" workers who have no ownership stake but agree to work
with a unit for a minimum period of one year. The remaining "temporary"
worker-fishermen stay back on the shore. They are free to change units
as and when they like. It is this group of temporary standby crew who is

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granted karanila or "shore-status". The names of the working crew and
the non-working crew are noted done by the accountant every day.
Everytime a new temporary fisherman offers to work with the unit he
has to join the working crew to prove his "seaworthiness." This practice
precludes the possibility of persons unwilling or unable to work at sea
from exploiting the karanila system.
The encircling-net pelagic resource fishery, where this system of
karanila is practiced, was one of the most important of the artisanal
fishing operations carried out in Kerala State. About half a century ago
such encircling-net fishing units - each employing between 15 - 20
persons -- were owned by feudal landlords who held the workers as
bonded labour. A peasant uprising in the region in the 1940s, known as
the Punapra-Vyalar struggle, in which the bonded fishworkers played a
major role, led to a revolutionary change. The uprising was motivated
by the strong communist movement in the region that had been organising
the workers in the coir factories and the tenant farmers in the agricultural
areas (Kaimal, 1994; Jeffery, 1981; George, 1975). Some of the active
leaders came from fishing villages and they intervened to help created a
change in the production relations in the fishery. The fishworkers then
formed groups and became the collective owner-operators of the units.
The group sizes varied from 4 to 25 and kinship was the most usual
basis for group formation. The transition from a feudal to a
communitarian system of ownership thrust a moral responsibility on the
new class of owner-workers to create mechanisms for income spreading.
The fishery was implicitly deemed community property, and hence the
wealth from it was intended for all. Both the rationale of providing fish
for consumption to all and the karanila system are rooted in this socio-
economic and cultural context.

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Just as the transition to the collective ownership of the fishing
units has come to stay, so also has the unquestioned custom of the karanila
system along with it. The role of karanila fishermen in the fishery gains
extra importance in two specific situations. When the size of the
ownership group is small, the permanent and semi-permanent fishermen
together are not sufficient to operate a fishing unit. Karanila fishermen
are crucial to the working of the unit is such a circumstance. Also, in the
pelagic oil sardine and mackerel fishery, which is the mainstay of these
encircling units, during the chakara season it becomes necessary and
indeed lucrative to make more than a single trip during the day. In such
situations there is a need for more than just the right number of crew to
man a single trip. Having a large karanila fishermen group ensures
work rotation so that each trip-team will get sufficient rest and recoup
their energy for the next trip. The role of larger numbers in the quick and
efficient handling of net repairs and in the launching and beaching of the
unit need hardly be overemphasised. In a pelagic fishery, successful
operations are importantly conditioned by good fishing gear and the
diligence of those ashore responsible for its maintenance. The fact that
the karanila fishermen are not "attached" to any particular unit has meant
that when the fishing season is bad they are free to leave the unit and
seek better income opportunities elsewhere. This means that there will
be no undue social pressure to increase fishing effort during the natural
lean fishing season. The karanila system consequently provided the basis
for fuller work opportunities, and more importantly, for a spreading of
income in the community. It ensured a fair degree of distributive justice
so long as there was community control on the number of fishing units
in the village and a good, stable fishery.
Prior to the 1980s the encircling-net fishery was a totally labour-
intensive operation. Thereafter it gradually began to utilize out-board
motors to power the craft. This allowed for a substantial increase in the

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size of the net and the craft. The impetus for this came from the new
phenomenon of state support for the artisanal fishery. It took the form of
subsidies and credit facilities. The result was a spurt in the number of
such new units entering the fishery. By 1991, it was estimated that about
half the 120,000 active fishermen in the state were employed on these
motorized encircling-net units now called ring-seines.
Unfortunately, this shift has resulted in an unrestrained growth in
the number of ring-seines mainly due to state largesse. The ownership
groups formed to take advantage of these incentives were often from
outside the active fishing community. One crucial impact of this was
that the erstwhile community control on the nature and level of investment
in the fishery got substantially eroded. The spurt in investments resulted
in a drop in catch rates. Following this many units left the fishery of the
area and a large number of fishermen were left with no employment.
Some worker fishermen switched back to non-motorized fishing units
and others regrouped to form smaller ring-seine units. During this
transition the karanila system faced its severest test. The units that
remained were confronted with the situation of having more karanila
fishermen than those working at sea. Even when the catches were good,
the average income of the individual crew was depressed because of the
customary claims of the karanila fishermen.
The karanila system was a recent custom-created mechanism (just
over 50 years old) for ensuring an adequate supply of labour to the
fluctuating needs of the fishery. It was also a system for income spreading.
The karanila system has ensured that the nutritional status of a large
number of persons has been taken into account. The "boom and bust" in
the presently more heavily over-capitalized pelagic fishery combined
with the breakdown of the community institutions of control of access
to the resource, have threatened the continuance of the karanila system.

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2. TRADITIONAL TECHNOLOGY AND KNOWLEDGE
The elaborate understanding of the nuances of the aquatic milieu
and the behaviour patterns of living marine organisms are the
quintessence of the traditional ecological knowledge system of the
artisanal fisherfolk of Kerala. The technologies adopted by them to catch
fish are a personification of this knowledge which in turn is handed down
largely through learning-by-doing and oral traditions of songs, stories
and sayings (See Kurien, 1998).
Technology
Diversity is the hallmark of artisanal fishing craft and gear
technologies. The notable feature was that the investment in gear was
far more important than the investment in craft. The diversity has been
influenced primarily by two interrelated factors. First, the given and
largely unchangeable nature-determined factors that pertain to tropical
marine eco-systems. Importantly these include the strong element of
seasonality in the fishery; the highly dispersed and interactive nature of
fish species; and the non-homogeneous physical oceanographic
conditions. Secondly, the exotic socio-cultural influences coming from
the foreign countries with which Kerala had contact through trade as
well as the colonial conquests that often accompanied trade. This is
manifest in the unmistakable influence in the designs of traditional craft
and gear. The dugout canoes of the northern region of Kerala where the
Muslim fishermen dominate exhibit distinct Arab influences. The boat
seines used by the Christian fishermen in Thiruvananthapuram district
in the south are of Portuguese origin. The dip nets have been introduced
by the Chinese and are called the cheena vala (Chinese net). The net
result was development and use of fishing tools and techniques that were
marked by their ecological sophistication but with inherent limits to their
levels of productivity. The 600 kilometer coastline was distinguished

22
by at least 14 types of fishing crafts and at least 23 types of fishing gear
(SIFFS, 1992). Artisanal fishing gears are largely marked by their
diversity of fabrication, passivity in use, seasonality of operation and
limitation in size. To be productive during the whole year a fishermen
needed several gear types each suited to the specific specie to be caught
during a specific season. Consequently, the catching capacity of the gear
in their possession was normally higher than the actual annual harvest
made. This "overcapacity" was an innate element of this sustainable
artisanal fishery.
In Kerala, even as recent as 1980 there were as many as 22 major
craft-gear combinations used by the artisanal fishermen to harvest the
resources of the coastal waters (Kurien and Willmann, 1982). During
this period they accounted for over 70 percent of the fish harvest of the
state of about 400,000 tonnes. The mechanized trawler and purse-seine
fleet took the remainder. The post-1980 introduction of out board motors
onto the artisanal fleet had the effect of introducing new craft designs;
reducing the gear diversity and the induction of more active, perennial
fishing gear such as ring-seines into the artisanal fishery. Two decades
of this experience has resulted in the new phenomenon of
overcapitalization of a major segment of the artisanal fishery. It has also
led to the excessive energy intensity of fishing operations making them
economically unsustainable both for the large number of artisanal
fishermen as well as the new entrants into the fishery. The ecological
sustainability of these operations has also been questioned. The effect it
has had in deskilling fishermen is yet to be assessed systematically though
the general consensus among them supports this conclusion. One
important effect of this has been a noticeable "switching back" to some
of the erstwhile artisanal fishing gear and craft. This response is adequate
demonstration of the solid techno-ecological and socio-cultural

23
foundations of the artisanal knowledge and technology being appropriate
for fishing as a source of sustainable livelihood and food.
Knowledge
An artisanal fishing operation is not determined a priori by a
process of inductive reasoning. Any particular fishing operation in
progress is a simultaneous integration of large numbers of discrete thought
processes of past experiences coupled with the immediate observations
aided by all the human senses. These include interalia: the feel of the
sea-bottom acquired by touching the plumb line; the smell of the sea;
the sight of birds, the colour of the sea and the ripples on it; the sound of
the shoal movement - to mention a few. The coming together of these
aspects initiates the tool using response - dropping of hooks, casting of
nets or laying of traps. The result: fish is soon caught (Kurien, 1987).
Artisanal fishermen can rarely make explicit any general "theory"
of their fishing. We may infer that their "theory" is constructed from
observation and tested by further observation. They add or subtract from
"theory" by producing new explanations or dropping existing ones. The
process defies verbalization in the form of general axioms on the practice
of fishing. It is a cultural continuum of habituated practice stored in the
memory and passed on to the next generation in the process of learning-
by-doing. It is practical knowledge conditioned into cultural practices.
It also represents their "world view" of "mother ocean" as a life-giving
system rather than a hunting ground, with the living resources in it being
"limitless" and their ability to individually bring ruin to it rather remote.
The holistic nature of their knowledge system can be best illustrated
by the example of the venture by artisanal fishermen of the
Thiruvananthapuram District in southern Kerala to construct kritrima
paar -- artificial reefs (See Kurien, 1995). The knowledge about the

24
reef-sea-fish interactions had been passed down to them from the older
generation and kept alive by their own practice of fishing over the natural
reefs in the region. There was a holism about their understanding that
stemmed from their concern with the whole resource system rather than
just the fish in it.
Fishermen consider reefs as an important basis for ecosystem
rejuvenation. This association is premised on their understanding that
underwater structures in the sea cater to the adisthana avasyangal (basic
needs) of fish: their need to feed; their strong desire for protection from
predators; their requirement for rest and shade; and their urge to breed.
Consequently, for an artificial reef to be a source of food to fish, the kind
of materials used to build it gained importance. The materials used should
be those on which benthic vegetation would aggregate quickly thereby
ensuring adequate food supplies. The artificial reef needs to be erected
in areas where the sea bottom is naturally productive. To serve the needs
of protection, rest and shade for fish, the structure and the position of the
artificial reef are determining factors. Only an artificial reef of sufficient
height will provide shade. Solid structures are not conducive for
protection and rest, as they do not provide hiding places from predators.
If fish are to make artificial reefs their breeding grounds, then the
prerequisite of food and protection become imperative. For fishermen
to be able to catch the fish that use the artificial reef in such a wide
variety of ways, the reef should be aligned on the seabed in the east-west
direction. Given the north-south direction of the littoral current in the
region, this is the best alignment to ensure that the maximum number of
fishermen can fish over an artificial reef at any given time without getting
their hooks entangled. They have also learned that artificial reefs should
be located in the "fish channel" - a path which was identified as being
between 25 and 50 meters in depth in the in-shore sea. Referring to the
way this total understanding of fish behaviour helped to induce fish into

25
the artificial reefs, one fisherman remarked: " The fish teaches us and
then we teach the fish (a lesson!)"
3. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
There are several institutional arrangements in Kerala's marine
fisheries that define access and conservation norms within the community.
Some like the kadakodi, the "court of the sea", have long histories. Others,
like the institutional innovations to manage the artificial reefs, are more
recent in origin. These arrangements are basically communitarian in
nature and are therefore embedded in the specific ecological, social and
cultural context in which they have arisen. They have evolved in the
process of the community's attempts to define the nature of their
relationship with the sea and the living resources therein. The prime
social foundation of these institutions is to ensure livelihood security
through arrangements that ensure justice and fairness in an occupation
that is highly risk prone and with considerable uncertainty of outcome.
The Court of the Sea
Among the Hindu fishing communities scattered in the
predominantly Muslim dominated districts of Kozhikode, Kannur and
Kasargode, there is the age-old traditional community institution called
the "kadakkodi" or the "sea court" which is closely associated with the
temples located on the beach. The region is known for it's near shore oil
sardine and mackerel fishery which exhibits great seasonality and is
marked by bumper harvests. The numerous artisanal fishing units involve
large numbers of people undertaking hasty operations. Confusion and
conflicts are inherent to the very nature of the fishery. The "court" consists
of the "elders" and certain number of "functionaries" to implement the
decisions. The court meets on the open beach. All the fishermen of the
village gather to participate in the discussions on issues relating to access,

26
conservation and conflict resolution. The elders take the decisions and
these are considered final. Monitoring the implementation of decisions
taken is the responsibility of the whole community. The elders make
sanctions against offenders. This can range from a mere warning to total
social ostracism. Conflict resolution is also very cost effectively and
amicably handled. Open, systematic procedures, quick decisions and
effective implementation make this possible.
The kadakkodi institution has been subjected to considerable
pressure from the early 1980s. This was primarily due to several factors.
They include interalia: the rapid technological change in the fishing
practices of the traditional fishing communities; the commencement of
new organizational forms such as cooperatives promoted by the
government; the new political divisions among fishing communities;
and the greater involvement of formally educated youth in fishing
operations. The authority of the elders was subjected to question, as other
forms of leadership (e.g. in the cooperative, the political parties' etc)
began to emerge both within and outside the community. The basic
scaffolding of the kadakodi is still in place. Discussions with fishing
communities in this region point to a latent interest in reviving the
institution, albeit in a new form. The government of Kerala is placing a
new emphasis on panchayat (village) level resource management and
governance with total participation of the people (Government of Kerala,
1997). In this context, communities with a history of traditional
institutions have an important edge in finding their feet in any new
stewardship contract between state and community.
Institutions for Resource Rejuvenation
Most traditional institutions in artisanal fishing communities have
revolved round issues of allocation, regulation and conservation that are
today considered to be the core concerns of fisheries management. In

27
the context of resource depletion and ecosystem damages, the role of
active community involvement in resource rejuvenation merits
consideration. More recently, (as mentioned above in Section 2) the
Christian fishermen in the Thiruvananthapuram District of Kerala had
embarked on a venture to rejuvenate the resources of the coastal waters
using artificial reefs. Being familiar with hook and line fishing, these
fishermen are by far the most skilled and knowledgeable as regards the
nuances of fish species and the sea. However, unlike the Hindu fishermen,
the communitarian traditions that Christian fishermen may have practiced
before their conversion (in the 16th century AD), have mostly been
replaced by the religious traditions of the church in which fishery related
issues have little role. There has thus been a vacuum in the realm of
village based traditional fishery institutions. When these fishermen
renewed their interest in erecting artificial reefs in the early 1980s, there
was a lack of an appropriate institutional setting for achieving the task.
Initially, private individuals filled this institutional vacuum. They seized
the initiative and organized the erection of artificial reefs in the coastal
sea by investing their own funds. Having erected the reefs, they accorded
access to a limited number of persons from whom they hoped to collect
an access rent. Within a short time, the difficulty of monitoring access
led to the abandonment of these initiatives by the individuals. This failure
created the basis for a more organized group initiative for erection of the
reefs. Financial help for this came from external agencies like
cooperatives and voluntary organizations. Access was limited to the
members who had contributed funds for purchasing the materials to make
the reefs. Regulating access to such reefs was seen as the collective task
of the shareholders.
This "group erection-group access" arrangement held together well
and fishing over these reefs proved viable. Strains developed when news
of other, more communitarian forms of initiatives in the neighboring

28
southern coastal villages came to light. In these villages, fishermen
adopted what they called the "utsava shylee" (festival approach). Village
festivals are funded by collecting funds (in cash and kind) from all the
households in the village on the basis of a "whatever-each-one-can-give-
happily" approach. A core group (the festival committee) undertakes the
actual initiative and hard work of organizing the festival. Their only
gain is social recognition. Any numbers of volunteers are accommodated.
The grandeur of the festival is proportionate to the total funds raised and
the skill of the organizers. However, the access to the fun of the festival
is open to all in the community irrespective of the quantum or nature of
their contribution.
Inter-village discussions emphasized that extending the utsava
shylee to reef erection and access was much closer to the cultural beliefs
pertaining to the stewardship of the natural resources of the sea. These
were deeply embedded in the psyche of the community. The "group
erection and group access" approach promoted a certain narrow
exclusiveness -- an attitude unbecoming both at a village festival and at
sea. A self-critical review led to a quiet transition from a situation where
villages communities took isolated decisions to a context where the pros
and cons of seemingly appropriate decisions could be tested against the
merits of the more rewarding and socio-culturally appropriate experiences
of others. Communities formed sahodara samajams (brotherhood
fraternity) in which one member from each of the fishermen households
in the village were given membership. This was a means of formalizing
total community participation in the venture. The sahodara samajam
elected a "works committee" which would be responsible for erecting
the reef, deciding on the norms/restrictions over access, and for settling
conflicts should they arise. Every household made a financial
contribution. This fund was matched by a matching grant from the church.

29
Technical assistance was sought from voluntary organizations with the
required expertise.
This concerted evolution towards more community identification
and concrete involvement in the erection and access to artificial reef
point to the steady process of accretion of institutional social capital.
The result has been the growing support for an institutional choice that
spreads both the costs and the benefits more evenly within the community.
Given the appropriate circumstances people who have a very intimate
association with natural resources as a source of livelihood, can empower
themselves to go beyond macro-level collective action for conserving
resources to micro-level initiatives for improving and rejuvenating them.
The fish caught over artificial reefs can never contribute a
significant share of the fish production in Kerala. However, they play an
important role in keeping alive some of the socio-culturally-important
informal welfare arrangements in artisanal fishing communities. The
changes in the technology, the increased investment and operational costs
of fishing have made the older active fishermen technologically and
financially obsolescent. In this context, artificial reefs play the role of a
"safety net" and living "pension fund" by providing a fishing spot close
to shore. The lower productivity is compensated by the higher prices for
the fresh fish. The reefs have doubled up as a training ground for younger
members of the fishing community. Here they can learn the art of fishing
and the secrets of the sea for the older generation. This ensures a cultural
continuity of the knowledge system of these communities.
4. FISH AND FOOD SECURITY
The long history of exogenous cultural contacts has introduced to
the people of Kerala a wide variety of foods. Today these are considered
to be part of the traditional diet. However, it is the aquarian ecological

30
context of Kerala that has made its people avid fish eaters from time
immemorial. As mentioned earlier, Kerala is the only state in India where
even Hindu communities are avid consumers of marine fish. The staple
diet of rice or tapioca (manioc) combined with oil sardines and served
along with toddy (fermented tender coconut juice) is mentioned as the
choicest offering to the gods in some Hindu temples.
It is recognized worldwide that food habits are among the most
difficult of cultural aspects amenable to change. However, long term
changes in the availability of a preferred food item can alter tastes. When
the transformation of an economy does not come to terms with this fact,
it can create situations that are difficult to resolve. In Kerala we have an
interesting and instructive example of how domestic fish consumption
preferences and taboos changed the whole direction of fisheries
development. It relates to the history of shrimp exports from Kerala which
was alluded to earlier. The plenitude of shrimp resources in Kerala's
coastal waters was a well-known fact for centuries. These bottom dwelling
animals came to the surface during the monsoon months and became
particularly abundant during the chakara season when they became easy
prey mainly to passive gill nets and encircling nets. Boiled and dried
shrimp were a major export from Kerala to the east Asian countries and
China where shrimp constituted an important part of the cuisine. This
commerce was greatly facilitated by the fact that, in Kerala there were
strong taboos against eating shrimp since it was associated with producing
stomach disorders. Consequently, but for a very small domestic
consumption, even as recent as the late 1950s, shrimp was either exported
or used as manure for the coconut palms that formed Kerala's main cash
crop at that time. Shrimp prices were well below the price of even small
pelagic fish. This context made it easy for the enhanced demand for
shrimp from the US and Japanese market in the early 1960s, coupled
with the introduction of bottom trawl nets and freezing technology, to

31
create the most phenomenal and lucrative fishery export boom in Kerala.
This changed the whole course of fisheries development in the state.
The coastal waters became open access to investors who could afford
the new harvesting and processing technologies. A small section of
investors and business people became very rich during this "pink gold"
rush. In a little over a decade, a sharp decline in fish harvests followed
as a result of ecosystem damages caused by unregulated and excessive
trawling for shrimp. The artisanal fishing communities who were
marginalised in this process united in organized protest against the state
for allowing this unbridled export growth and the entry of capitalist
interests into the fishery (Kurien, 1992). Fish consumers in Kerala
experienced a substantial decline in fish availability and a steep increase
in fish price. Being the cheapest source of animal protein this trend had
important implications for food security.
5. THE ROLE OF WOMEN
The role that women play in developing societies in preserving
the social and cultural ethos can hardly be overemphasized. The onus of
providing stable sustenance has been the lot of the womenfolk. While
men usually work outside the home as the breadwinners, women are
considered the homemakers even if circumstances and opportunities
warrant that they work outside the home for a living. We will highlight
the similar and the differing roles played by women in fishing households
and women in the fish consumer households in Kerala. Both play crucial
roles in livelihood and food security.
Women in Fishing Communities
Women play an indispensable role in maintaining the social and
cultural foundations of the fishing communities in Kerala. In a multi-
caste, multi-religious society these roles take varying socio-economic

32
and cultural expressions. One common and strong taboo relates to
women's involvement in actual fishing. This is considered to be
"polluting" and consequently women in the fishing households never go
to sea. The closest they may get to it will be for gathering shells and
cockles on seafronts with rocky fringes. The women of the Muslim
Mappila fishing communities of the northern region are largely confined
to their roles as mothers and providers of the basic needs of the family
within the four walls of the home. Very gradually, with increasing
education and greater socialisation they do involve, to a limited extent,
in some post harvest activities in the villages (Mathur,1977). The Hindu
Araya fisherfolk and the Christian Mukkuva fisherfolk permit their
women to participate in the economic activities relating to the fish
processing, buying and selling in distant markets (Ram, 1991).
These differences apart, it is well known that women are the
homemakers in all the fishing communities. In all the three religious
communities, women standing on the seashore, anxiously awaiting the
return of their husbands from sea, is a common sight. As homemakers,
women ensure that the fish for consumption and the money realized
from the sale of the surplus is effectively managed for the good of the
household. The men, whose occupation at sea, takes them away from
mainstream society, have limited contacts with the world outside. Behind
every successful fisherman stands a woman who is the anchor of the
household. Many of the marine fishing communities in Kerala practice
matrilocal family formations. This provides a greater stabilizing role for
the women in the household and the economy. Since a fisherman spends
much less "quality time" in his home when compared to farmers and
other land-based occupational groups, the role of the woman, both in the
socializing of the children and resolving the "cooperative-conflict"
involved in the allocation of food in the household, becomes very
significant (Dreze and Sen,1989). In Kerala, in households like those of

33
the fishing communities, which live close to subsistence levels, these
roles are particularly important in ensuring nutritional security for the
family. The evidence, however, points to the sad contradiction that in
fishing communities there is a bias against the girl-child on both the
counts of proper socializing and nutritional security (Kurien, 1994).
Among the Hindu and Christian fishing communities women often
make the initial contacts with the outside world and the fishing village
by taking fish to the markets. The women from these communities who
interact with the market provide a strong socializing element to the family
and have a significantly better understanding of the dynamics of societal
forces. In the Muslim communities some of them get involved in the
shore-based processing activities but rarely involve in gathering at sea
or going to the markets. Modernization of the fishery has often been
accompanied by a greater degree of concentration of the activity to big
ports following the introduction of larger mechanized fishing craft. This
move away from decentralized, village-based fishing has also deprived
the women of many of their economic and social activities in the fish
economy. It has also disrupted the shorter, less costly, more employment
oriented, marketing chains which linked the small agglomerations of
coastal fishing communities in Kerala to the widely dispersed rural
consumers of the immediate hinterland. This has had a negative impact
on the quantum of fish consumed by large numbers of these relatively
poorer consumers.
Women in fishing communities also involve in the shore-based
household and processing and net making activities. The former are
crucial because these activities often depend on the fish which are taken
as part of the share for household consumption or which may have been
unsold when taken to the market. Such activities minimize the waste of
fish. They also sometimes provide the earnings that are saved by the

34
women for use to buy food in the lean seasons. Many of them also seek
wage employment in the commercial processing sector.
Women in Consumer Households
Women in the non-fishing consumer households play a different
role. Irrespective of the economic status of the household, it is the women
of Kerala who play the crucial role in cooking the food for the family.
The traditional knowledge about food and diet are passed done through
them from generation to generation from mother to daughter. Housewives'
beliefs that prawns causing indigestion and stomach disorders, and oil
sardines and anchovies are indispensable in the diets of children are
examples of such wisdom (See Annex One for more examples). Women
decide protein combinations in the diet and the manner in which these
are cooked and served to the different members of the family. It is the
mothers who decide what children should eat. These childhood diets
condition the future demand. As mentioned above (see Section 4) there
have been changes in the availability, prices levels and the quality of
fish in the domestic market as a consequence of eco-system overfishing
in the coastal waters of Kerala. This has played an important role in
changing the food preferences of both the poor rural consumers in the
state and caused a significant change in the protein preferences of the
upper and middle-class consumers. In the latter consumer segment there
was a sharp decline in the consumption of tapioca (manioc) which is
always consumed in combination with a fish curry. The rising prices of
fish have been singled out as a prime factor for this change. The richer
consumers seem to have altered their protein preferences. This exhibited
itself in the changing pattern of animal protein intake. Mothers in this
consumer segment in Kerala were feeding children with more milk, eggs
and chicken due to their easier availability and assured quality. With this
the strong preference for fish exhibited by the adults of today and
yesteryears is bound to wane.

35
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
If livelihood and food security is to become one of the goals of
fisheries development and management practice in developing countries,
then the social and cultural dimensions of fish consumption and fisheries
must occupy a much higher priority than it does today in most fishery
administrations. Fortunately, cultural norms and social mores do not
change as technology. Being deeply embedded in the society, they can
be revived if the proper effort and the collective will exist to take up
such a project. Basically this implies a more people-centered approach
to development. An approach that searches for the inner rationality of
actions, as seen and understood by the participants: an emics mode of
interpretation (Harris, 1980). In my experience, initially working with
what the people already know well and do with ease, going by the cultural
grain so to speak, nearly always seems better advised for small-scale
fisheries. Change introduced thereafter, with their participation, is
invariably adopted in more convivial and committed manner.
The objective of the "development decades" in most developing
regions of the world was primarily geared to giving priority for achieving
economic advancement through introducing major changes in technology
and the organization of production. Enhancement of capital investment
to raise natural resource production were at the centre of this paradigm;
people and their social and cultural capital, accumulated over the
centuries, were relegated to its periphery. Fisheries development in Kerala
state in India was no exception in this. The social and cultural
concomitants were seen as "drags" on this projected transformation of a
traditional society into a modern one. The futility of this approach soon
became apparent in the many failures of the techno-economic paradigm
of development.

36
In Kerala the fishery is still, even literally, largely people-centered.
There is more movement of the weight of humans than fish in the process
of harvesting, processing and marketing. This should be viewed today
as strength rather than a weakness of the sector. The more participatory
a fishery is, the greater security for everybody. This is an important tenet
for all population abundant countries where fishery resources are
available.
Committed and systematic efforts need to be taken to incorporate
social and cultural elements into both the discourse and praxis of
management of the fishery resources. Key to this pursuit is the
maintenance of diversity and the fostering of self-reliance. Both these
are essentially values which run counter to the current tendency of
homogenization through globalisation. To counter this macro tide will
require the bolstering of the micro ripples at the level of family,
community and nation. These initiatives can in turn be undertaken only
when the livelihood and food security of the people is assured. In this
paper, we have briefly touched on some of the outward manifestations
of these deep roots. A summary of the inferences that emerge from our
analytical description are sketched out below along with some related
policy guidelines.
Inferences and Policy Guidelines
1. Sharing Patterns
The sharing patterns of fish and income are today under
consideration stress. The overt commercialization of the fishery tends to
rob it of certain built-in social security nets. Where these relate to the
distribution of fish, it must be considered a prime part of the fishery's
fixed overhead (Goodwin, 1990) to meet the food needs of the producers,
their families and kinsmen and their neighbours who have at least an

37
ancillary participation in the fishery. With regard to income sharing we
saw how the karanila system which was a direct fallout of challenging
feudal relations, is now having to face the onslaught of capitalist relations.
The redeeming feature is that the elements of community homogeneity
and inter-dependence that were fostered by the karanila system are still
deep-rooted in the social fabric of the fishing villages in Alapuzha. An
important initiative, in any effort to revive the fundamentals of these
earlier systems, will be to reassert the community property right to the
coastal fishery. This must become the unalienable right of the active
fishermen alone (Kurien, 1998). It is therefore, in principle, possible to
restore to the fishery the principles of communitarian sharing and caring.
To achieve this will require not just the collective will of the communities.
The appropriate support from the state that is convinced about the socio-
cultural rationality of such institutions in the management of the fishery
for livelihood and nutritional security will be essential.
2. Technology and Knowledge
Fishermen in Kerala are confronted today with a considerably
changed "universe" and in this context traditional knowledge and
technology has its strengths and the weaknesses. However, there is
potential for closer collaboration between artisanal fishermen and other
personnel trained in modern scientific methods. Interactions between
fishermen and marine biologists, oceanographers, craft and gear
technologists point to the exciting possibilities of undertaking a
"coevolutionary development process" (Norgaard, 1984). The use of
motors and new material for nets are the major changes in technology.
Even the use of a compass is still rare. One area where greater
investigations are required pertains to obtaining an understanding about
how fishermen acquire their holistic knowledge of the sea and the living
resources in it. Blending of traditional and modern science and technology

38
can help to retain the decentralized, small-scale of operations and the
vibrant technological diversity. This is an important need of the hour as
it will help focus on how best coastal fisheries in tropical developing
countries can first achieve the goals of sustainable livelihood and food
at the locale, before all else.
3. Institutions
Institutions provide the backbone for the survival of socio-cultural
norms and practices. They outlive generations and technological change.
Despite some temporary set backs, endogenous institutional innovations
of these fishing communities - both the old and the new -- merit serious
attention. This is particularly so in Kerala state given the new context of
collaborative arrangements between state and community for the
management of the coastal fishery. The process of panchayat (village)
level planning and governance initiated in Kerala provides a new basis
for revival of such communitarian forms of rejuvenation of resources,
regulation of access and resolution of conflicts arising therefrom
(Government of Kerala, 1997). Institutions represent embodied social
capital. Hiking up the interest on this provides an easier course of action
than creating totally new capital.
4. Fish and Food Security
Fish is a major endogenous symbol of the culture of food in Kerala.
It is also a major nutritional mainstay in the diet of its population,
irrespective of their income levels, religion or social background. Its
role in the food security of all the different cultural and economic
segments of the domestic consumers in Kerala is indisputable. The history
of fisheries in Kerala shows that modern fisheries development policies
did not explicitly recognize this fact when venturing to promote an export-
led growth of the sector. This is not to deny the importance of international

39
trade for the livelihood security of fishing communities. However, such
policies can have rather short lived gains even for fishing communities
if the choice of technology and the specification of access rights to the
fishery are left entirely to the dictates of the "free market". There is a
need to consider how the larger societal concerns for food security can
be factored into sectoral development policies. In the context of Kerala,
where fishing communities are at the lower end of the economic ladder
and fish forms an important component of the food basket of all economic
groups in the society, a fresh look into ways and means of optimizing
benefits is essential. Innovative forms of social control over the fish
export sector in order to curb its anarchic expansion will be desirable.
5. Role of Women
The role of women in fishing communities and fish consuming
households is indispensable. Their decisions have a crucial bearing on
both the nature and direction which livelihood and food security will
take into the future. In fishing communities this will in large measure
hinge on strengthening the still vibrant decentralized, village-based,
small-scale fishing activities. In the Hindu and Christian fishing
communities these provide an important impetus for revival of the role
of women in the value addition to fishery products both in the realm of
processing and marketing. This in turn provides the basis for re-
establishing the link between fish harvesting, processing and marketing
by the masses, with fish consumption for the masses. There is thus the
need to highlight the relationship between decentralized, small-scale
fisheries and food security of the poorer fish consumers. In the consumer
households, women need to be made aware of the value of fish as a
wholesome health food and not just another source of protein. An
investigation of the scientific soundness of the fish preferences and taboos
merits attention.

40
ENDNOTE
As an endnote I would add that social and cultural aspects of the
fish economy are often not obvious to the casual observer. Even the
experts have failed to perceive them. Among those who did, many could
not appreciate their true significance. The renewed awareness of the need
to factor in socio-cultural concerns in our pursuit for wholesome and
sustainable development warrants the conscious search for discovering,
understanding and building upon them. The aspects that pertain to
livelihood and food security provide the foundation on which the rest of
the superstructure can be built. If this enterprise is to have a lasting impact,
the search and the construction of a new framework must be participative
and involve all the stakeholders. Facilitating this should be an important
new role for fishery administrators and managers.

41
ANNEX ONE
Housewives' Wisdom
Culturally Conditioned Fish Preferences and Taboos in Kerala State*
Taboos
• Consuming small prawns causes indigestion, stomach disorders and
cholera
• Don't drink milk after eating prawns
• Fish should be cooked with black tamarind
• Fish and lime should not be eaten in combination
• Fish and bitter gourd should not be eaten in combination
• Yogurt and fish should not be consumed together
• Mushrooms and fish don't go together
• Fish should not be eaten together with sprouted grains
• Fish should not be consumed when taking certain ayurvedic (Indian
system of medicine) drugs
• Fish with scales should be avoided by those with kidney stone
• Mackerels are known produce allergies like tongue and body itch
• Fish should be given to babies only after they are six months old
• Eating fish aggravates the formation of phlegm
• Fish from the waters in the hills and forests where sunlight does not
penetrate should not be eaten
Preferences
• Bony ribbon fish is good for pregnant women
• Pregnant women should not use cuttle fish and silvery ribbon fish
• Anchovies and ray fish are good for women after delivery
• Anchovies and silver belly are fat free fish and good for people who
are ill
• Shark flesh is good for those who suffer from piles
• Shark is good for those with arthritis
• Three essential foods for children over one: oil sardines, honey and
milk
• The mackerel head is fit to be served to best guest.
• Fish is best cooked with black tamarind
* (The assistance of Mariamma Thomas, Geetha Devi and Lizzy Thomas in compiling
this annex is gratefully acknowledged)

42
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46
CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
LIST OF WORKING PAPERS
(From 1991 onwards)
MRIDUL EAPEN Hantex: An Economic Appraisal.
September, 1991, W.P.242
SUNIL MANI Government Intervention in Commercial Crop Development:
A Case of Flue Cured Virginia Tobacco.
November, 1991, W.P.243
K. PUSHPANGADAN Wage Determination in a Casual Labour Market: The
Case Study of Paddy Field Labour in Kerala.
January, 1992, W.P.244
K.N. NAIR & S.P. PADHI Dynamics of Land Distribution: An Alternative
Approach and Analysis with Reference to Kerala.
January, 1992, W.P.245
THOMAS ISAAC Estimates of External Trade Flows of Kerala - 1975-76 and
1980-81.
March, 1992, W.P.246
THOMAS ISAAC, RAM MANOHAR REDDY, NATA DUVVURRY
Regional Terms of Trade for the State of Kerala.
March, 1992, W.P.247
P. MOHANAN PILLAI Constraints on the Diffusion of Innovations in Kerala:
A Case Study of Smokeless Chulas.
March, 1992, W.P.248
R. ANANDRAJ Cyclicality in Industrial Growth in India: An Exploratory
Analysis.
April, 1992, W.P.249
T.M. THOMAS ISAAC, RAM MANOHAR REDDY, NATA DUVVURY
Balance of Trade, Remittance and Net Capital Flows: An Analysis of
Economic Development in Kerala since independence.
October, 1992, W.P.250
M. KABIR, T.N. KRISHNAN Social Intermediation and Health Transition:
Lessons from Kerala,
October, 1992, W.P.251

47
SUNIL MANI, P. NANDAKUMAR Aggregate Net Financial Flows to India:
The Relative Importance of Private Loan vis-a-vis Foreign Direct
Investments.
August, 1993, W.P.252
PULAPRE BALAKRISHNAN Rationale and the Result of the Current
Stabilisation Programme.
November, 1993, W.P.253
K.K. SUBRAHMANIAN, P. MOHANAN PILLAI Modern Small Industry
in Kerala: A Review of Structural Change and Growth Performance.
January, 1994, W.P.254
DILIP M.MENON Becoming Hindu and Muslim : Identity and Conflict in
Malabar 1900-1936.
January, 1994, W.P.255
D. NARAYANA Government Intervention in Commodity Trade: An Analysis
of the Coffee Trade in India.
January, 1994, W.P.256
K.J. JOSEPH, P. NANDAKUMAR On the Determinants of Current Account
Deficits: A Comparative Analysis of India, China and South Korea.
January, 1994, W.P.257
K.K. SUBRAHMANIAN, K.J. JOSEPH Foreign Control and Export Intensity
of Firms in Indian Industry.
February, 1994, W.P.258
PULAPRE BALAKRISHNAN, K. PUSHPANGADAN Total Factor
Productivity Growth in Indian Manufacturing - A Fresh Look.
April 1994, W.P.259
D. NARAYANA, K.N. NAIR Role of the Leading Input in Shaping Institutions:
Tendency in the Context of Irrigation Uncertainty.
May, 1994, W.P.260
G. MURUGAN, K. PUSHPANGADAN Pricing of Drinking Water: An
Application of Coase Two-part Tariff.
December, 1994 W.P.261
MOHANAN PILLAI On the Mexican Crisis.
December, 1995, W.P.262
SUNIL MANI Financing Domestic Technology Development through the
Venture Capital Route.
December, 1995, W.P.263

48
T.T. SREEKUMAR Peasants and Formal Credit in Thiruvithamcore: The
State Institutions and Social Structure 1914-1940.
December, 1995 W.P.264
AMITABH Estimation of the Affordability of Land for Housing Purposes in
Lucknow City, Uttar Pradesh (India): 1970-1990.
March, 1996. W.P.265
K. PUSHPANGADAN, G. MURUGAN, K. NAVANEETHAM Travel Time,
User Rate & Cost of Supply: Drinking Water in Kerala, India:
June 1996. W.P.266
K.J. JOSEPH Structural Adjustment in India: A Survey of Recent Studies &
Issues for Further Research,
June 1996 W.P.267
D. NARAYANA Asian Fertility Transition: Is Gender Equity in Formal
Occupations an Explanatory Factor?
October, 1996 W.P.268
D. NARAYANA, SAIKAT SINHAROY Import and Domestic Production of
Capital Goods from Substitution to Complementarity,
October 1996. W.P.269
NEW SERIES
W.P. 270 ACHIN CHAKRABORTY On the Possibility of a Weighting
System for Functionings December 1996
W.P. 271 SRIJIT MISHRA Production and Grain Drain in two inland
Regions of Orissa December 1996
W.P. 272 SUNIL MANI Divestment and Public Sector Enterprise Reforms,
Indian Experience Since 1991 February 1997
W.P. 273 ROBERT E. EVENSON, K.J. JOSEPH Foreign Technology
Licensing in Indian Industry : An econometric analysis of the choice
of partners, terms of contract and the effect on licensees’ performance
March 1997
W.P. 274 K. PUSHPANGADAN, G. MURUGAN User Financing &
Collective action: Relevance sustainable Rural water supply in India.
March 1997.
W.P. 275 G. OMKARNATH Capabilities and the process of Development
March 1997
W. P. 276 V. SANTHAKUMAR Institutional Lock-in in Natural Resource
Management: The Case of Water Resources in Kerala, April 1997.

49
W. P. 277 PRADEEP KUMAR PANDA Living Arrangements of the Elderly
in Rural Orissa, May 1997.
W. P. 278 PRADEEP KUMAR PANDA The Effects of Safe Drinking Water
and Sanitation on Diarrhoeal Diseases Among Children in Rural
Orissa, May 1997.
W.P. 279 U.S. MISRA, MALA RAMANATHAN, S. IRUDAYA RAJAN
Induced Abortion Potential Among Indian Women, August 1997.
W.P. 280 PRADEEP KUMAR PANDA Female Headship, Poverty and
Child Welfare : A Study of Rural Orissa, India, August 1997.
W.P. 281 SUNIL MANI Government Intervention in Industrial R & D, Some
Lessons from the International Experience for India, August 1997.
W.P. 282 S. IRUDAYA RAJAN, K. C. ZACHARIAH Long Term
Implications of Low Fertility in Kerala, October 1997.
W.P. 283 INDRANI CHAKRABORTY Living Standard and Economic
Growth: A fresh Look at the Relationship Through the Non-
Parametric Approach, October 1997.
W.P. 284 K. P. KANNAN Political Economy of Labour and Development in
Kerala, January 1998.
W.P. 285 V. SANTHAKUMAR Inefficiency and Institutional Issues in the
Provision of Merit Goods, February 1998.
W.P. 286 ACHIN CHAKRABORTY The Irrelevance of Methodology and
the Art of the Possible : Reading Sen and Hirschman, February 1998.
W.P. 287 K. PUSHPANGADAN, G. MURUGAN Pricing with Changing
Welfare Criterion: An Application of Ramsey- Wilson Model to Urban
Water Supply, March 1998.
W.P. 288 S. SUDHA, S. IRUDAYA RAJAN Intensifying Masculinity of Sex
Ratios in India : New Evidence 1981-1991, May 1998.
W.P. 289 JOHN KURIEN Small Scale Fisheries in the Context of
Globalisation, October 1998.
W.P. 290 CHRISTOPHE Z. GUILMOTO, S. IRUDAYA RAJAN Regional
Heterogeneity and Fertility Behaviour in India, November 1998.

50
W.P. 291 P. K. MICHAEL THARAKAN Coffee, Tea or Pepper? Factors
Affecting Choice of Crops by Agro-Entrepreneurs in Nineteenth
Century South-West India, November 1998
W.P. 292 PRADEEP KUMAR PANDA Poverty and young Women's
Employment: Linkages in Kerala, February, 1999.
W.P. 293 MRIDUL EAPEN Economic Diversification In Kerala : A Spatial
Analysis, April, 1999.
W.P. 294 K. P. KANNAN Poverty Alleviation as Advancing Basic Human
Capabilities: Kerala's Achievements Compared, May, 1999.
W.P. 295 N. SHANTA AND J. DENNIS RAJA KUMAR Corporate
Statistics: The Missing Numbers, May, 1999.
W.P. 296 P.K. MICHAEL THARAKAN AND K. NAVANEETHAM
Population Projection and Policy Implications for Education:A
Discussion with Reference to Kerala, July, 1999.
W.P. 297 K.C. ZACHARIAH, E. T. MATHEW, S. IRUDAYA RAJAN
Impact of Migration on Kerala's Economy and Society, July, 1999.
W.P. 298
D. NARAYANA, K. K. HARI KURUP, Decentralisation of
the Health Care Sector in Kerala : Some Issues, January, 2000.