Institutions and governance in fisheries of Indian Brahmaputra River Basin

Abstract

Riverine fisheries are of great importance in the tropical regions of the earth, they provide food and nutrition to millions of people and also support their livelihood. Brahmaputra is one of the largest rivers of the world having a drainage area of 580,000 square kilometers. Institutional arrangements have been compared in two river stretches and wetlands under different management regimes, namely: (i) open access (North Lakhimpur district); (ii) Fishermen cooperative (Kamrup district); and 15 floodplain wetlands (in three districts) under Individual, cooperative and open access. The open access regime has no institutional arrangements, while for cooperative and individual regime, the river and wetlands were leased out for 7 years.The ownership of riverine stretches of Brahmaputra lies with department of revenue, while the ownership of floodplain wetlands under various government departments.The study concluded that involvement of actual fisher institutions fisheries may be encouraged for better fisheries management. A need was also felt for periodic evaluation of these institutional arrangements towards their performance and natural resources use. The inclusion of the entire actor group and the presence of active linkages within and among them will strengthen governability.