Management regimes and institutional arrangement in floodplain wetlands fisheries of Assam: An evaluation.

Abstract

Asam is endowed with copious aquatic wealth in the form of bels, swamps, ponds and rivers. The flodplain wetlands (bels) extending over one lakh hectare, constiute the most important fishery resource of the state. The flodplain wetlands are used as multiple use and multiple user system. These wetlands are the common property resource and under diferent management regimes. Multiple instiutions play its role through ownership and control over the fisheries of wetlands. A large number of stakeholders are asociated directly and indirectly with the bel, these include fishers, leses, various state government departments, AFDC, financial instiutions, research instiutes, NGO’s etc. These wetlands are under various management regimes, i.e., private management (individuals and groups), fishermen coperative management, Community-based fisheries management (decentralized management, Government works as faciltator) and open aces. An atempt has ben made through this communication to describe management regimes and instiutional arangement in the frame work of stakeholders’ mechanism of aces to utilze the flodplain wetland resources for outcomes (positve or negative).