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| ‘The Slaves of Water’: Socio-cultural Construction of the Communitybased Coastal Resource Management in the South-eastern Bangladesh. |
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Reference |
| Deb, Apurba Krishna. 2008. "The Slaves of Water: Socio-Cultural Construction of the Community- Based Coastal Resource Management in the South Eastern Bangladesh." Presented at "Governing Shared Resources: Connecting Local Experience to Global Challenges," 12th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Commons, Cheltenham, England, July 14-18, 2008. Link: http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/archive/00003783/ |
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Introduction to the Institution |
| The hereditary Hindu ‘Jaladas’ (literally ‘slaves of water’) caste-based fishers, a socio-politically secluded ecological community, has developed and reshaped their resource and territorial management practices tuned to ethno-ecological knowledge, hydro-geological conditions, cultural heritage, value-systems and economic well-being through a long interaction with their immediate environment. These locally crafted diverse management institutions have survived for several decades, with special focus on ‘faar’ management system. Based on generally accepted values and operational clarities, such age-old institutions manage fishing entitlements through exercising set of rules |
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Rules for Management
of the Institution |
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(a) Boundary Rules |
| Spacial Boundaries: Coastal fishing villages of Cox’sBazar district, BangladeshSocial Boundaries: This institution is based on cast system and applicable to ‘Jaladas’ cast group. 'Jaladas' (Literally, slaves of water) is a word specific to the so-called ‘low caste’ Hindu traditional fishermen. Membership in the village is determined by birth. |
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(b) Governance
rules |
| In each fishing village, there is at least one ‘sarder’ (leader of the community); one or more than one ‘Mukkhya’ (literally, chief adviser to ‘sarder’) and ‘Mannyamaan’ (literally, respected persons). The usual combination of ‘sarder’, ‘mukkhya’ and ‘mannyamaan’ is 1:1:1. In most cases, ‘sarder’ is the outcome of family dynasty; ‘sarder’s son will be a ‘sarder’- is the common rule. There is no manual for this rural judiciary system; the ethical codes and judgements of the ‘sarder’ remain unchallenged mostly. Beyond the social roles, sarder play critical roles in resource management. They allocate the location for fishing and administer the system in an unbiased and fair way. |
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(c) Resource Allocation |
| There are different arrangements for territorial management, locally known as ‘faar’. This is a strictly exercised age-old management institution for granting fishing entitlements to pertinent members through rotating fishing sites which is largely concentrated on the tenure management. The entitlement is usually temporary in nature, in some cases for generations. The entitlements are granted by ‘Lottery system’, in some villages by charging the cost of allocation which varies with location. In the need of money for the management of village council, an auctioning is called of best 5-7 locations. The decisions are taken independently by the traditional village leaders ‘Sarder’. |
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Conflict Resolution Mechanism |
| The ‘sarder’ and his associates play critical roles in mitigating familial and interhousehold conflicts. Those who dare to contravene are excluded from society many times. The victims of social exclusion are usually denied of participation in village level rituals, sharing of foods and marital relationships. ‘Sardery’ system is pretty fast, mostly unbiased, and efficient; it is largely accepted by the villagers and on the whole, successfully neutralizes the social tension over the issue what the legal system fails to address |
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Problems Faced by Institution |
| The ‘faar’ system is increasingly under the pressure of the new entrant Muslim fishers. The traditional Hindu fishers lack a legally recognized arrangement with the local administration, and hence their age old institution faces enormous pressures from competing fishers of other villages. |
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Changes in the Institution over time |
| Not mentioned |
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Purpose |
| Tenure management of fisheries |
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Country |
| Bangladesh |
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Region |
| Coastal fishing villages of Cox’sBazar district |
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