The puzzle of snail fishing : an example of regulating common pool resources in Tamil Nadu, India

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The puzzle of snail fishing

An example of regulating common pool resources in Tamil Nadu, India.

Photo: The seashore of Nambiar Nagar. Source: Anke Verheij, 2014

Bachelor thesis Human Geography and Urban Planning University of Amsterdam Supervisor Dr. M. Bavinck Anke Verheij (10288619) ankeverheij@gmail.com August 2014

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List of abbreviations

BEDROC - Building and Enabling Disaster Resilience of Coastal Communities

CMFRI - Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute

CPR – Common Pool Resources

MFRA - Marine Fisheries Regulation Act

MoA - Union Ministry of Agriculture

MoEF - Union Ministry of Environment & Forests

NGO – Non Governmental Organisation

Currency

The Indian currency is the Rupee. In June 2014, the exchange rate was approximately 82 Rs. = 1 Euro.

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Acknowledgements

This thesis is the result of my field research for the bachelor Human Geography and Urban Planning at the University of Amsterdam. I would like to take this opportunity to give my thanks to the people that helped and supported me during this thesis. First of all, I would like to give my thanks to Maarten Bavinck of the University of Amsterdam who has been a great help in supervising my research. He helped me preparing my research, giving me information and giving structure to my thesis by giving inspiring feedback throughout the whole project. I would also like to thank Jaap Rothuizen for his feedback and guidance during the first phase of the thesis project. I want to thank Leo de Klerk for bringing structure in the first phase of the thesis project. Also I want to thank Johny Stephen for his support and guidance during the first weeks in India. I would like to thank Mrs. Dhanalakshmi of the Anna University in Chennai for organising the two week course “Ecosystems – Governance and Services” at the Department for Ocean Management at the Anna University in Chennai. This course

introduced us into the research subjects before we started our individual research.

Next to that, I would like to give my greatest thanks to all the fishermen and their families that participated in this research and who were willing to share their stories with me. During the entire research period in Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai I was amazed by the kindliness with which I was welcomed in the villages and all the houses. I also want to thank the key informants for participating in my research. Furthermore, I owe my gratitude to Elakkiya, who was not only of great help for translating, but also for helping me getting accustomed to Indian habits and traditions, for teaching me some Tamil words, and for the enthusiasm with which she showed me the plants in the area and what they are used for. I also want to thank Basil from BEDROC for giving us a warm welcome in Nagapattinam. Besides this, I want to thank Subramanian for his help in arranging practical things in Nagapattinam, introducing us to several people in Nambiar Nagar, and for taking me to Karikattukuppam.

I would also like to give my thanks to my fellow students that stayed in Nagapattinam together with me; Fenna, Imme, Nicolien and Abel. The way we explored India together and how they supported me during the fieldwork is unforgettable. Besides, I would also like to thank my friends and family by giving critical feedback and supporting me during the entire period. I am very grateful for the opportunity to do my research in India because it deepened my research skills and it was a great experience in personal and in academic respect.

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Chapter 1: Introduction

In the world many marine ecosystems that humans depend on are under threat (Ostrom, 2009) due to, among others, overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction (UNEP, 2011) and climate change (World Fish Center, 2007) (Richardson and Poloczanska, 2008). According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) globally 15 of the 24 ecosystems that they have investigated are in a state of decline. Humans have changed these ecosystems more rapidly an extensively over the past 50 years than in any comparable period of time in human history (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). This is caused by a growth in world population and a growth in consumption of ecosystem services. The degradation of ecosystem services could grow worse in the future because of a likely three- to six fold increase in global GDP by 2050 which entails a growth in consumption of ecosystem services. In order to reverse the degradation of ecosystems and meet the increasing demands for their services, significant changes in policies, institutions and practices are necessary. However, these changes are currently not under way (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005).

Ecosystems are defined as “any ecological system with defined boundaries. It includes

all of the organism within those boundaries as well as the physical and chemical factors that influence those factors” (Sadava et al., 2011). Among the most productive ecosystems on the

planet, oceans and coasts ensure the well-being for a growing world population, which is likely to rise to over nine billion people by 2050 (UNEP, 2011). Humans depend on ecosystems because ecosystems provide different services. “Ecosystem services are the

benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning services such as food and water; regulating services such as flood and disease control; cultural services such as

spiritual, recreational, and cultural benefits; and supporting services, such as nutrient cycling, that maintain the conditions for life on Earth.” (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2003).

Ecosystem services research has become a more important research topic over the last decade, with the number of papers addressing ecosystem services rising exponentially (Fisher, 2009).

Fisheries are provisioning services and fish is the main source of animal protein for a billion people worldwide (World Fish Center, 2007). About 200 million people and their households worldwide, most of them living in developing countries, live from fishing and aquaculture (World Fish Center, 2007). In India, marine fishery is an important sector, contributing to the food security of the country and providing direct employment to over 1.5 million people while others depend on the sector indirectly. At the moment, fisheries and

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7 aquaculture contribute 1.07 percent to the national GDP and the average annual value of output between 2002 and 2007 was 31682500 million rupees (ICFS, 2014).

In order to maintain these ecosystem services, natural resources are regulated in different ways. What the best way is to regulate fisheries in a small village in Tamil Nadu, India, is debated and different in every situation. As mentioned before, every factor in an ecosystem interacts with every other factor, either directly or indirectly. The sea snail is part of the marine ecosystem. Catching these snails could have a negative influence on the marine ecosystem. Snail fishing is regulated in different ways which will be described in this thesis.

This study seeks to gain more insight in how and why snail fishing is regulated. It aims to contribute to existing knowledge on how marine ecosystems are regulated. By doing so, this study can give insight in a topic on which little scientific analyses have been done. Besides this, it is an example of common pool resource management. To find these answers, research has been done for four weeks in Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai, two coastal villages in Tamil Nadu, for four weeks. During this time, fishermen were interviewed about snail fishing. Besides this fieldwork, a literature search has been done. For general

information about the population of Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai has been made use of results from other students doing research in this area. Finding answers to the questions how and why snail fishing is regulated is a complex puzzle, which will later be described,

After having introduced the topic and the aim of the thesis in this chapter, chapter two of the thesis starts with a discussion of theories that are relevant for this research. Chapter three introduces the research questions and gives an explanation of research methods, the units of analysis, and limitations that are applicable to this research. In the following chapter, the context is introduced. Chapter five gives an overview of snail fishing; the fishing gear that is used for snail fishing and the uses of snails. Chapter six gives a detailed description of policy methods used for snail fishing. The next chapter describes the knowledge and opinions of different actors. Chapter eight gives a conclusion of the research findings and seeks to give suggestions for further research and action.

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Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework

In this chapter the theoretical framework on which this research builds will be described. This chapter is divided in three sections. First of all, the concept common pool resources will be described. Secondly, the theory, the tragedy of the commons will be explained. Finally, different regulations of common pool resources will be described. In this same section the consequence of different regulating systems, legal pluralism, will be discussed.

2.1 Common pool resources

At the moment scholars are still debating the definition of common pool resources. The concept implies that common pool resources are resources that everyone can use, and there is no regulating system. Mostly, however, this is not the case. Ostrom et al (1999) define

Common Pool Resources as:

“We use the term Common Pool Resources (CPRs) to refer to resource systems regardless of the property rights involved. CPRs include natural and human-constructed resources in which (i) exclusion of beneficiaries through physical and institutional means is especially costly, and (ii) exploitation by one user reduces resource availability for others. These two characteristics – difficulty of exclusion and subtractability - create potential CPR dilemmas in which people following their short term interests produce outcomes that are not in anyone’s long-term interest. When resource users interact without the benefit of effective rules limiting access and defining rights and duties, substantial free riding in two forms is likely: overuse without concern for the negative effects on others, and a lack of contributed resources for maintaining and improving the CPR itself.” Ostrom et al (1999)

2.2 Tragedy of the commons

The tragedy of the commons is a highly influential and criticized (Dietz et al., 2003) theory by Hardin (1968) stating that freedom in a commons leads to tragedy. According to Hardin, the people using a commons are caught in a system that leads to the destruction of the resource on which they depend. The users of a commons are rational, and make demands on a resource until the expected benefits of their actions equal the expected costs. Because each user ignores costs imposed on others, individual decisions leads to an overuse and potential destruction of a commons. (Ostrom et al., 1999) For explaining the tragedy of the commons Hardin (1968) uses an example of a pasture open to all. He expects that each herdsman will try to keep as many cattle as possible on the pasture. This may work for centuries because tribal wars,

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9 poaching and disease keep the numbers of men and animals below the carrying capacity of the land. But when the goal of social stability is reached, the commons generate tragedy.

According to Hardin (1968) users of a commons are rational beings, seeking to maximize their gain. The herdsmen will keep adding one more animal to the pasture because the benefit is more than the costs of overgrazing, because the effects of overgrazing are shared by all the herdsmen. Because all the herdsmen make this rational decision, it results in tragedy (Hardin, 1968).

Hardin drew attention to two human factors that drive environmental change. The first factor is the increasing demand for natural resources and environmental services, due to a growth of the world population and the per capita resource consumption. The second factor is the way in which humans organise themselves in order to extract resources from the

environment; the institutional arrangements (Dietz et al., 2003). The theory of Hardin is criticized for being oversimplified, because he claimed that there are only two ways to avoid the tragedy of the commons. The first way is central government regulations and the second way is private property. He also assumed that resource users are trapped in a system in which they are not able to create solutions. There are, however, many people who have successfully created self-governing institutions in order to avoid resource degradation (Dietz et al., 2003). This is type of regulation is also called collective action (Ostrom, 2010). Ostrom et al. (1999) give an example were self-organized group property is more successful than socialism and privatization. A satellite image of northern China, Mongolia and southern Siberia shows much more grassland degradation on the Chinese and Russian part of the image than on the

Mongolian part of the image. Russia and China have imposed state-owned agricultural collectives that involve permanent settlements, while in Mongolia there are traditional group-property institutions (Ostrom et al., 1999). Although self-governing institutions have not always succeeded, neither have Hardin’s preferred alternatives of private or state ownership (Dietz et al., 2003).

2.3 Regulations of common pool resources and legal pluralism

As described in the previous section, there are three main ways of regulating common pool resources; central government regulations, private property and collective action. Sometimes these different regulation methods are mixed. This could lead to legal pluralism, which means that different legal systems are applied to the same situation (Jentoft et al, 2009). In many countries fisheries are a sector where the state has abstained from exercising authority and where no or limited fisheries legislation exists. Sometimes this is a deliberate choice based on

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10 the observation that local regulating systems seem to work well. In other cases, the state is lagging behind and has not been able to respond to new situations and needs. Both of these scenarios exist in India (Jentoft et al, 2009).

Indian folk law, or traditional law, exist in order to regulate maritime resources. This folk law is often ignored, obscured or marginalized by the state law. Besides this folk law, there is also state law and national law applicable on the same resources. This could lead to conflicts. Jentoft et al. (2009) argue that co-management may provide a solution to the challenges that legal pluralism brings to the administrative decision-making process. Co-management establishes an arena for stakeholders to debate on the mitigation of such differences and to be innovative about how law can be made more effective and social. According to them, co-management must be designed with legal pluralism in mind and it should try to build on and integrate existing legal systems (Jentoft et al, 2009).

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Chapter 3: Research design

In the previous chapter a summary of the main literature on the common pool resources, the tragedy of the commons and scientific knowledge versus local knowledge was given. In this chapter the research design and methodologies will be discussed. First the research questions will be formulated and explained. Then the methodology will be explained. Thirdly, a brief picture of the research location and the research population will be given. The last part contains challenges that were experienced during the research.

3.1 Research questions

The basis of this thesis is fieldwork conducted in Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai from April 14th until May 9th 2014. Next to field research, secondary research was done by

reviewing literature on the concepts presented in the theoretical framework, the Indian context and snail fishing. The aim of this research is to give an insight in how common pool resources are managed at a local scale. This research is a case study in which the common pool resource is the sea, and snail fishing is what is locally managed. Before arriving in India the intention was to only look at the case of a specific net, the kachaavalai. When arriving in Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai it turned out that there are different types of nets used for different types of snail fishing. Because of confusion among the fishermen and myself, I decided to also include other types of nets used for snail fishing in my research. This will be explained more in more detail under the section fieldwork challenges.

Because I decided to make an analysis of other types of snail fishing as well, the research questions are formulated in a more general way than I first intended. This leads to the following main research question.

How and why is sea snail fishing in Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai, Tamil Nadu, India, regulated?

In order to find answers to the main question, four sub questions are formulated. o What are the methods of sea snail fishing?

o What are the uses of sea snails?

o What are the management approaches of sea snail fishing and who are involved? o What are the opinions about sea snail fishing of the fishermen, the government, the

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12 3.2 Methodologies

This research is both descriptive and explanatory. The ‘how’ part of the research question is descriptive research, because it is aiming to describe how snail fishing is regulated. The ‘why’ part of the research question is explanatory research, aiming to explain why snail fishing is regulated. The research design that is used for this research is a comparative design. Bryman (2008) describes a comparative design as:

“A research design that entails the comparison of two or more cases in order to illuminate existing theory or generate theoretical insights as result of contrasting findings uncovered through the comparison.”

There has been chosen for a comparative design because the research compares Nambiar Nagar with Samanthanpettai and it compares different actors. Different research methods were chosen to conduct the research in the field. The research is dominated by qualitative research, consisting of structured and semi-structured interviews. A small part of the research is quantitative research consisting of household surveys.

Of the four weeks of fieldwork, the first week was spent mostly on orientating activities, such as getting to know my translator, searching for accommodation, walking around in Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai, drawing a map of the area and having some informal conversations with the fishermen in Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai. Besides this, we introduced ourselves to the panchayat of Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai. After the first week I started with household surveys, questionnaires and open interviews.

Unfortunately, due to confusion about the different types of nets and snails, the process of holding interviews did not go as expected. Because of this the second week consisted mostly of open interviews and group interviews trying to find out why my questionnaire was not working. These open interviews and group interviews were mostly held at the beach. I did seven of these interviews, and four questionnaires. The third week started with a new questionnaire with an extension of other nets. These questionnaires did work, but did not contain much questions about snail fishing. Only after arriving home and discussing the topic with my supervisor I understood what the problem was.

3.2.1 Household surveys

The household surveys included questions on the name, gender, age, education, employment, position in the household and type of house of the household members (appendix 1).

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13 Samanthanpettai. Because other students of the University of Amsterdam - Abel Mensink, Fenna Hoefsloot and Nicolien van Aalderen - also did research in Nambiar Nagar, their household surveys are also included in the analyses. This led to analyses of a total of 129 household surveys in Nambiar Nagar. University of Amsterdam student Imme Groet also did her research in Samanthanpettai. In Samanthanpettai the total amount of household surveys is 101. In order to have a representative sample of the research population, a household survey has been held at, for as far as possible, every fifth house. The household surveys were

generally held inside the house or in the garden of the house.

3.2.2 Questionnaires

The questionnaires started with informal personal questions, this continued with questions about opinions on the informal village administration (traditional panchayat) and the councillor (who is part of the elected panchayat). This was followed by questions about a banned net the, ringseine, and how people think about the decline fish stocks, and finished with questions about the snail net (appendix 2). The questionnaires were held with fishermen in the households where I had also done a household survey. In some houses there were no fishermen at home, or no fishermen living. For that reason I have done a few more household surveys than questionnaires. In total I have done 17 questionnaires in Nambiar Nagar and 15 questionnaires in Samanthanpettai. One questionnaire in Nambiar Nagar was held with a female fish trader in order to see if she would be able to answer the questions about the nets. She did not know anything about snails, so I did not include this interview in the rest of the research. If there was no fishermen at home, he would sometimes be home later so I came back at another time. The age of fishermen respondents range from 19 until 65. The questionnaires were held inside the house or in the garden of the house.

3.2.3 Open interviews with key informants

Besides the interviews with fishermen, I have interviewed a few key informants. I have interviewed a panchayat member in Nambiar Nagar and in Samanthanpettai. I have also interviewed the councillor and the messenger (kudipillai) of Samanthanpettai. Besides this I have interviewed representatives of six institutions. First of all, the Fisheries Department of Nagapattinam, which is part of the government, with the task to develop and conserve the fisheries resources and improve the socio-economic status of the fisheries community (Government of Tamil Nadu, 2014c). Another interview has been held with a director of the Forest Department in Nagapattinam. The Forest Department responsibilities include

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14 2014). The third interview was held with the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO)

Building and Enabling Disaster Resilience of Coastal Communities (BEDROC). BEDROC is the successor of NGO Coordination and Resource Centre (NCRC). NCRC was a multi-stakeholder coordination and programme implementation platform set up after the tsunami (BEDROC, 2014). Another interview was held with the director of FISHMARC. This is a district level fisheries organisation which focusses on the enhancement of the position of the small scale fishermen. The fifth interview was held with the Tamil Nadu Fisheries University where the director and two professors were interviewed. The last interview was held with a representative of the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in Nagapattinam which carries out research in the following major thematic areas: coastal systems research, biodiversity, biotechnology, ecotechnology, food security and information, education and communication (MSSRF , 2014)

3.2.4 Observations

During the fieldwork I have also done observations in Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai. Most of these observations were done on an unstructured basis, which means observing the social setting and what is taking place in the research location without an observation scheme (Bryman, 2008). The last part of the household survey consisted of an observation, observing the type of house were the respondents live in. This is written down in the household survey after the survey was completed. I also went to the harbour of the neighbouring town of Nagapattinam especially to observe the fish market and to see if snails were being sold.

3.3 Research location and research population

Nambiar Nagar was chosen as research location, because it is traditionally the head village of the fishing population of the region which consists of around 64 hamlets. Because of this it could play an important part in the process of banning a net. Samanthanpettai has been chosen because it is situated close to Nambiar Nagar and it is a smaller village, so it is interesting to compare these two villages. Besides these two villages I have been to Chinnangudi one day, because representatives of institutions and fishermen told that in Chinnangudi the kachaavalai is still in use. Chinnangudi is located around 45 kilometre north of Nambiar Nagar. My first interview was with a fishermen in Karikattukuppam, 26

kilometres south of Chennai, were I could get the first information about snail fishing. I went there because my supervisor Maarten Bavinck has done a lot of research there and it was close to Chennai.

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15 Almost all the residents of Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai belong to the

pattinavar caste, which is a Hindu caste traditionally engaged in marine fishing. As can be seen in graph 3.1 of all 246 male respondents in Nambiar Nagar, most are fishermen. Only 12 percent of all the males in Nambiar Nagar have a different profession. Examples of this are riksha driver, teacher, administrative employee in Nagapattinam, etc. In Samanthanpettai is this percentage a little bit less (graph 3.3). The youth of Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai are becoming more educated. As showed in graph 3.2 the highly educated residents of Nambiar Nagar are mostly people who are younger than 30. In Samanthanpettai only people younger than 28 have finished or attend college or university (graph 3.4). That the youth is becoming more educated shows that unlike the past, not all the children from fishermen will become fishermen themselves. Also most parents do not want their children to become fishermen, but prefer sending them to school. Reasons for this are explained in chapter seven. Besides different professions in the area, men have gone to countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and the Gulf states to work in shops, as plumbers, as taxi drivers, in construction, as electricians or as fishermen.

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17 3.4 Fieldwork challenges

During the fieldwork I faced some problems that have influenced the research process. A brief explanation of a few difficulties will be given in order to get a better understanding of why certain choices during the research were made. The most important is that, based on the research of my supervisor, I went into the field thinking that the kachaavalai was a banned net, banned by the traditional panchayat. I did not know that there are other nets that catch snails. This led to confusion during fieldwork. From most interviews I do not know when the respondents were talking about the kachaavalai and when about chank fishing. When

fishermen were talking about the high value of the snails and about the special snail with a coiling to the left, I now assume they were talking about chanks. It is also possible that the fishermen talked about different types of snails at the same time. Because the answers of the respondents to my questions were very diverse this confused me. Only after arriving home I read about the existence of the chank. Next to this, I thought that the kachaavalai was banned by the panchayat but when talking to the panchayat they said the government banned the net or that the net was not of any relevance in this area. At that moment I thought I had to gain

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18 their trust in order to get more information, but now I think I was in the wrong area to study the kachaavalai, because the kachaavalai is not of any relevance there.

Besides this confusion, there was also a confusion about the sensitivity of the topic. Before my field research, I was in Chennai to follow a course at the Anna University. When I was in Chennai I went to Karikattukuppam with Subramanian, a researcher who knows a lot about fisheries. He told me that the kachaavalai is a very sensitive topic and fishermen will only give me information after gaining their trust. According to Subramanian the topic is sensitive because it is illegal to catch snails, but people do it anyway. Subramanian said the

kachaavalai is banned by the government in 1984 in the whole state of Tamil Nadu by law.

Subramanian also came to visit in Nambiar Nagar and showed me a snail which is not big enough to sell. This, however, is the kind of snail that is caught with the kachaavalai and only now I realize that when Subramanian was talking about the sensitivity of the topic he was probably talking about chanks. That I thought that the topic was very sensitive influenced me and my translators way of interviewing. At some points my translator said the question I wanted to ask was not possible, because of the sensitivity of the topic. Unfortunately, my translator did not had any knowledge about snails and was instructed about the sensitivity by Subramanian.

Thirdly, four weeks of doing research is a very short period of time to conduct a research in a country with a culture that is new to the researcher. More time was needed in order to build up trust with the respondents and to understand their culture. Besides this, I worked with a translator because of my lack of knowledge of the Tamil language. Working with a translator limits the researcher in understanding the respondents. Furthermore, although the questionnaires and interviews have been explained to my translator, she might still

interpret questions different, or might interpret answers of respondents different than the I would have done. The last issue is the fact that I am a Dutch student. I felt this could have caused people giving the most appropriate answer and this could have influenced the reliability of the results. Some respondents expected something in return for the interview, because the only time other foreign people had been there was after the tsunami and these people were volunteers.

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Chapter 4 Context

For a better understanding of the context in which the fishermen in Nambiar Nagar and

Samanthanpettai live, a brief illustration of Nagapattinam district and its context will be given. Due to difficulties with obtaining official data, the information below is mostly based on own observations and on interviews with members of the traditional panchayat. First

Nagapattinam district will shortly be described, followed by a more detailed description of Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai. Subsequently, the political organisation of the area will briefly be discussed. In the next section the different types of fishing gear will be listed. Finally, the biological features of sea snails will be described.

4.1 Nagapattinam district

Nagapattinam district is situated on the east coast of India at the Bay of Bengal. It is a district in the state Tamil Nadu located between Cuddalore, Thanjavur and Thiruvarur district (map 4.1 and 4.2). The district has two disjoint regions. To go from the southern part of the district to the northern part of the district you go through Union Territory of Karaikal or through Thiruvarur district.

Map 4.1: Location of Tamil Nadu in India.

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20 Map 4.2: Location of Nagapattinam district

Source: Google maps, altered by Anke Verheij, accessed 19-06-2014

Map 4.3: Nagapattinam district, the taluks

Source: Nagapattinam District (2014) http://www.nagapattinam.tn.nic.in/admin.html, adjusted by Anke Verheij, accessed 19-06-2014

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21 As showed in map 4.3, the district of Nagapattinam consists of eight taluks. The capital of the district is Nagapattinam. The population of the district was 1.616.450 in 2011 compared to 1.488.839 in 2001. This makes Nagapattinam the 310th largest district of the 640 districts of India based on population size. The total child population, consisting of children from zero to six years old, was 165.245, which is a total of 10.22 percent of the total population. The population growth was 8.57 percent in 2011, which is low compared to an Indian average population growth of 15.61 percent and a Tamil Nadu average of 15.61 percent (table 4.1). The density per square kilometre was 629 in 2011, which is high compared to an Indian average of 382 and a Tamil Nadu average of 555. The sex ratio, the number of males per 1000 females, in 2011 was 1025. Compared to an Indian average of 940 and a Tamil Nadu average of 996 it is notable that in Nagapattinam there are more females than males. At the same time the child sex ratio consisting of children with the ages 0 to 6 was 959. The literacy rate in 2011 was 83.59 percent, growing 7.25 percent in the last ten years. Compared to the Indian average the literacy rate of Nagapattinam district is high, since the Indian literacy rate is 74.04 and the Tamil Nadu average is 80.09. Looking at gender, the male and female literacy rate was 89.79 and 77.58 percent respectively. In Nagapattinam district, 77.44 percent of the population lives in a rural area while 22.56 percent lives in an urban area. The sex ration in the rural areas is 1021 compared to 1040 in urban areas. Comparing the literacy rates, 82.00 percent of the rural population is literate, while 89.03 percent of the urban population is literate (Census, 2011).

Table 4.1: Population census data

India Tamil Nadu Nagapattinam Urban

Nagapattinam Rural Nagapattinam Population 1,210,193,422 72,147,030 1,616,450 364,624 1,251,826 Growth rate 17,64 15,61 8,57 - - Density 382 555 829 - - Sex ratio 940 996 1025 1040 1021 Literacy 74,04 80,09 83,59 89,03 82,00

Source: Census, 2011 (http://www.census2011.co.in/census/district/40-nagapattinam.html) accessed 19-06-2014

Agriculture and fisheries are the most important economic drivers of the district. Also tourism plays a key economic role (Nagapattinam District, 2014). The area in which Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai are located in map 4.4. Also Nagapattinam town and Nagapattinam

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22 harbour is shown, where the villagers of Namiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai often go to sell their fish, buy ice, attend school or do grocery shopping.

Map 4.4: The location of Samanthanpettai and Nambiar Nagar in the area.

Source: Google maps, adjusted by Anke Verheij, accessed 02-08-2014

4.2 Nambiar Nagar

Nambiar Nagar is situated between the Bay of Bengal on the east and a north-south railway track on the west (map 4.5). The north and north western sides of the village is surrounded by backwaters. The land between the backwaters and railway tracks, on the north western side of the hamlet, is waste land which is owned by the government. The main street of the village and Maham road connects the hamlet to Nagapattinam town which is 1.5 kilometer away.

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23 Maham road is on both sides surrounded by government waste land. The old hamlet starts 25 meters from the sea. The centre of the hamlet is situated on a dune. In the village there is one primary school, there are three temples (Pudu Oli Amman Kovil, Kaliyamman Kovil and Kadal Kanni Kovil ) and there is a community hall. Next to the biggest temple in the centre of

town, there is a small restaurant. Furthermore, one can find petty shops on almost every

corner. The houses vary from very small huts to bigger houses made of concrete.This

indicates that it is not a (economically) homogenous community, although the panchayat says that it is homogenous. According to the 2010 census there are 1814 people living in Nambiar Nagar, consisting of 450 household. The sex ratio (female per 1000 males) is 914. There are 604 active fishermen in the village.

Map 4.5: Nambiar Nagar

Source: Google maps, adjusted by Anke Verheij, accessed 02-08-2014

As transportation auto rickshaws are available and a lot of people have motorcycles and scooters. Twice a day there is a government bus running between Nambiar Nagar and Nagapattinam. Mobile phones are common methods of communication and most houses have a television as entertainment. The proximity to Nagapattinam town offers a lot of advantages to the residents of Nambiar Nagar because it ensures easy access to facilities, like municipal middle school, higher secondary schools, the government hospital, markets and various government offices (PRAXIS, n.d.).

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24 Traditionally Nambiar Nagar is the head village of the fishing population in

Nagapattinam district that lives in around 64 coastal villages in total. These villages are homogenous and consist of mainly fishermen. Due to marriages between people from these villages the villages are interlinked and an exchange of information is taking place (Bavinck, 2001). According to a group of fishermen Nambiar Nagar is the head village because of the legend of the golden fish. The legend is about Adibattha Nayanar, the Shaivite Saint who was the fisher-king of Nambiar Nagar. Each day Adibattha selected the best fish and offered it the God Shiva by releasing the fish into the sea. Eventually Shiva tested his devotion. Among all the fishermen in the village one fish a day was caught, and Adibattha would always return this one fish back to sea. The fishermen in the village began to starve and then Adibattha caught a golden fish. Also this golden fish he returned back to sea, because he knew that all prosperity comes from Shiva. At that moment, Shiva appeared and revealed that all had been his divine play. He then blessed Adibattha Naynar and his people with everything they needed

(Amaritapuri, 2000). This story is very important for fishermen, and because this happened in Nambiar Nagar, the village became the head village. In Nambiar Nagar a small temple is dedicated to this God. In a temple in Nagapattinam, the story of the golden fish is explained (photo 4.1). According to research by PRAXIS (n.d.) the community members do not know why Nambiar Nagar became the head village. They thought it was probably because the village was bigger than other villages.

Photo 4.1: The legend of the golden fish displayed in the temple in Nagapattinam

Source: Anke Verheij, 2014

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25 The tsunami that swept the entire region on December 26, 2004 heavily affected Nambiar Nagar. A total of 243 people died, which included 32 men, 86 women and 125 children. A large number of women died at the fish market in Nagapattinam. In every

interview the tsunami was mentioned, and the residents of Nambiar Nagar still grieve over the loss of their children and other relatives. The families of people who died received 2 lakh (200.000 rupees) from the government as a compensation for their loss. The houses near the sea shore were completely washed away by the waves. As the centre of the village is located on a dune, it was less affected. The waves went around the elevated land and damaged houses in other parts of the village. These houses are now rebuilt. Besides the houses, there was a lot of damage of boats. The Fisheries Department gave the boat owners a compensation for this damage. According to some fishermen in Nambiar Nagar, because of funding, the number of trawler and fiber boats owned by residents of Nambiar Nagar increased after the tsunami. The residents also received a compensation for the loss of their cattle.

4.3 Samanthanpettai

Samanthanpettai is named after ‘Samanthi’, a yellow flower that is common in the area (NCRC, 2014). Samanthanpettai is situated north of Nambiar Nagar and 3.5 kilometre north-east of Nagapattinam. It is close to the police quarters. The hamlet consists of two parts, the old part on the east and the new part on the west, which is built after the tsunami which heavily damaged the old part. The old and the new part are separated by railway tracks. At the entrance of the new settlement stands a modern 2-piece arch. The new part consist of 340 concrete houses build by the Mata Amritanandamayi Math religious foundation. In the old part approximately 50-100 families reoccupied the area , amidst the ruins of the tsunami. In the village there is a middle school (grades 1-8), a child care centre and two temples. There is communal space, with a community hall, a volleyball court and a kindergarten. According to the 2010 census there are 1872 people living in Samanthanpettai, consisting of 426

households. The sex ratio (female per 1000 males) is 904. There are 487 active fishermen in the village. As transportation auto rickshaws are available but not as many as in Nambiar Nagar. In addition a lot of people have motorcycles and scooters. At road 45A there is a bus running between Chennai and Nagapattinam. Just like in Nambiar Nagar, mobile phones are common methods of communication and most houses have a television as entertainment. The proximity to Nagapattinam town offers a lot of advantages for the residents of

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26 Map 4.6: Samanthanpettai

Source: Google maps, altered by Anke Verheij, accessed 19-06-2014

4.2 Political organization

India consists of 28 states, of which Tamil Nadu is the relevant state for this research. In Tamil Nadu there are 32 districts (Government of Tamil Nadu, 2014b), of which

Nagapattinam is the district in which this research is conducted. Nagapattinam consists of four taluks (census, 2010), which are”subdivisions of a district; a group of several villages

organised for revenue purposes”) (The Free Dictionary, 2014) One of these taluks is, also,

named Nagapattinam and consists of seven hamlets, among others Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpattai.

The most relevant institutions for Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai are mentioned below. Every hamlet haves a traditional panchayat, which is an informal village

administration that solves problems between villagers. In Nambiar Nagar there is a panchayat since 1975/1976. Before then, there was a Nattar system, where leadership of the community was hereditary passed on from father to son. The last Nattar had two children who suffered from speech impairment, which discontinued the system (PRAXIS, n.d.). The traditional panchayat has its roots in the in traditional caste administration (Bavinck and Karunaharan, 2006). The panchayat has authority over the fishing activities taking place in the village waters (Bavinck and Karunaharan, 2006). Besides the authority over fishing activities, the traditional panchayat solves disputes ranging from fights between fishermen, till marriage

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27 problems. It also represents the villages in the outside world and makes decisions which are supposed to be for the common good (Bavinck and Karunaharan, 2006). They also arrange the yearly temple festival in the village for which they collect money from the residents. Most villagers are satisfied with the traditional panchayat. The traditional panchayat is very

effective in controlling fishermen belonging to that village, but weak in establishing common rules across a significant part of the coast involving many villages. Also, the panchayat has low control over mechanized boats that are based in the harbour (Vivekanandan and Kasim, 2011).

Responsible for electricity, roads, water and the school is the councillor, who is part of the elected panchayat. The councillor is a member of a political party and is elected every five years. He works for the municipality. According to the residents the councillor can also arrange government jobs for the educated people, but to arrange this he asks for a lot of money. Most villagers are not satisfied with the councillor, because it takes a long time before he fixes a problem, unless you give him money. The councillor is not responsible for the fisheries sector.

The State Fisheries Department is responsible for fisheries in the territorial waters up to 19.3 kilometres. It is responsible to implement the Marine Fisheries Regulation Act (MFRA) that gives it power to register and license fishing boats and impose a wide range of restrictions on fishing (Vivekanandan and Kasim, 2011). It also provides infrastructure support, including fishing harbours, fish landing centres, ice plants, etc. Besides this it provides subsidy on fishing gear and diesel (Government of Tamil Nadu, 2014c). However, with the exception of the yearly six week ban on mechanized fishing (common on the entire Indian coast), the implementation and enforcement of the MFRA is weak. While registration and licensing is being done, the provisions are not used to limit entry, which retains the open access character of the fishery. Gear bans and restrictions are effective only where the local community is supportive. ‘Lack of political will’ and lack of staff are mentioned as reasons for the weak implementation and enforcement of the MFRA by department officers

(Vivekanandan and Kasim, 2011).

The Union Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) is responsible for management of the fisheries beyond 19.3 kilometres up to 321.9 kilometres. The Maritime Zones of India (MZI) Act, 1981, gives power to regulate foreign vessels. An act to regulate national vessels in the EEZ was still in the draft stage in 2011. The coast guard implements the MZI by catching

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28 ‘poachers’ at sea. It is difficult to assess the effectiveness of the MoA because many vessels said to escape the coast guard. (Vivekanandan and Kasim, 2011).

The Union Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) has powers under the Wildlife Protection Act to ban fishing for endangered species and to declare national parks with restrictions on fishing. The MoEF also has powers under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification to control coastal degradation and pollution taking place caused by

industrialization, urbanization, etc. The MoEF has used its powers to ban a variety of shark species, gastropods, sea cucumber, etc. which will further be explained in chapter six. Protecting these species often happens without thorough study and without any consultation with fisheries departments, MoA, fisheries research institutes and fishermen (Vivekanandan and Kasim, 2011).

The State Forest Department is responsible for implementing MoEF bans and running of national parks. Forest guards have powers to arrest and detain under the Forest Act. It is implementing MoEF bans on catching and trading of banned species (Vivekanandan and Kasim, 2011). There is however, according to the representative of the Forest Department in Nagapattinam, not a separate mechanism regulating fisheries. Besides this, there are conflicts between the fishing community and the forest department in which the fisheries department is a spectator (Vivekanandan and Kasim, 2011).

Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) is an institute under the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR). CMFRI is responsible for collecting fish catch statistics, make stock assessments and provide management advisories to state and central governments. It has very useful data over a long period of time and has provided potential yield estimates for fisheries at national and state levels. However, state governments do not use CMFRI data or follow its advice. The Government of India treats state government data as official instead of CMFRI data (Vivekanandan and Kasim, 2011). The CMFRI also wrote an extensive book about chanks, which is unfortunately not open to the public (Lipton et al., 2013).

4.4 Fishing sectors

In Tamil Nadu there is a variety of boats used for fishing. Broadly there are two different sectors; mechanised and artisanal. The most important differences between these sectors are that the fishing base is different; the mechanised sector is based in the harbour while the

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29 artisanal sector is based on the beach. The scale of investment is much higher in the

mechanised sector than in the artisanal sector. In the mechanised sector not everyone is an active fishermen, the owner is more an investor and manager than a fisherman, while in the artisanal sector everyone is an active fishermen. The labourers of the mechanised sector come from far and wide, also from non-fishing castes. The labourers of the artisanal sector come from the village where the vessel is based (Vivekanandan and Kasim, 2011).

These two broad sectors can be classified in a few different fishing units (figure 4.1). Except for ringseine, all these different fishing units are used for snail fishing which will be further described in the next chapter. The trawler boats are the biggest boats used by the fishermen and a wide variety of nets is used to target a variety of resources at different depths (photo 4.2). Motorised small scale fishing is mostly done with fiber boats, also known as FRP boats (photo 4.3). The fiber boat is the most common fishing boat in Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai, has a flat bottom and is stored on the beach. They are used with diesel long-tail motors (6-10 hp). A wide variety of nets are used for fishing on these boats with a crew size of 3-5. Depending on the net used, some go for one day fishing while others go for multiple day fishing. The ringseine is a net which is used with a group of 7-8 fiber boats together with a larger boat to carry the net (photo 4.4). In total 30-50 persons are involved in fishing with one ring seine. All are some of these people invest in buying a ring seine net, which cost a few hundred thousand rupees, which is a large investment. With a ringseine net large shoals of fish are caught, mostly oil sardines. Non-motorised boats are the kattumaram (photo 4.5), small wooden canoes and sailing boats. These boats are the traditional boats used for fishing and are facing extinction since the tsunami (Vivekanandan and Kasim, 2011).

Figure 4.1: A broad classification of the fishing units in Tamil Nadu and PC

Source: Vivekanandan and Kasim, 2011

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30 Photo 4.2: A trawler boat in the back and two fiber boats in the front

Photo 4.3: A fiber boat on the seashore

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31 Photo 4.4: A ringseine on the seashore in Nambiar Nagar

Photo 4.5: A kattumaram in use

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32 4.5 Sea snails

The biological name of snails is gastropod. Gastropods are the most common type of molluscs; almost three quarters of the molluscs are gastropods. Half of the gastropods live in the sea (Wye,1997). Gastropods are torted and asymmetrical, and mostly have a spirally coiled shell. Their body is soft and divided into 4 main regions: the head, the foot, the visceral mass and the mantle. The anatomy of the gastropod is showed in figure 4.2. The majority of the gastropods have a corneous or calcareous operculum, that seals the opening of the shell (Poutier, n.d.). Gastropods are carnivores, herbivores, scavengers, or eat almost everything. Most gastropods have a radula, a retractable organ with rows of raspy 'teeth'. to take in food. As the teeth wear down, they are constantly replaced by new ones. (Wye, 1997). The most important gastropods for this study will be described below.

Figure 4.2: The anatomy of the gastropod.

Source: Poutier, n.d.

4.5.1 The Baigai; babylonia spirita

The babylonia spirita is a gastropod belonging to the superfamily muricoidea and the family

buccinidae, also known as whelks. All whelks are carnivores. The babylonia spirita is around

5.5 cm long and can be found at depths until 150 meter (Wye, 1999). The babylonia spirita has an operculum (photo 4.2). The shell is thick and glossy and has brown and alternating cream color spiraling around the body. The Babylonia spirita is common across the Indian

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33 Ocean. The Babylonia gastropods are mostly living in sandy or muddy water (Shells of

Aquarius, 2014).

Photo 4.2: The babylonia spirita and its operculum

Source: Sundaram and Deshmukh, 2013

4.5.2 The Chank; Turbinella pyrum Linnaeus

The chank, Turbinella pyrum Linnaeus, is a large, thick-shelled gastropod living in the shallow waters of Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar, between India and Sri Lanka, where it feeds on marine worms. From there it extends around the southern coast of India to Kerala, with isolated populations further north, especially in the Gulf of Kutch, as far as the coast of Pakistan. The shell of the chank is covered by a thick brown outer coating (periostracum) (photo 4.3). When the snails head and crawling foot are retracted, the opening of the shell is partly closed by the operculum, a flat plate attached to the rear end of the foot . The shallow sea between the Tinnevelly district of Tamil Nadu and the opposite coast of Sri Lanka is the main region where chanks are fished (Heppell, 2001). This happens form June until August, when the weather is favourable and the waters are clear (Government of Tamil Nadu, 2014a) The sea-bed is composed of rocky banks, where pearl oysters live, interspersed with areas of muddy sand in which live large populations of various tube-dwelling worms. The chanks congregate on the muddy sand to feed on the worms, which are their principal food. The chank beds are widely spread at depths of 15 till 18 meters off the Tinnevelly coast, but there are few muddy sand areas on the Sri Lanka side. There the fine sands contain little mud, and chanks are not numerous except in a few restricted areas. Although patchy beds extend up to 200 miles north of Madras, attempts by the Tamil Nadu Fisheries Department to transplant chanks and start new local commercial fisheries have been unsuccessful (Heppell, 2001).

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Chapter 5 Snail fishing

The results of the research in Nambiar Nagar and Samanthanpettai will be presented in this chapter together with information from relevant literature. It will start with a detailed description of the different fishing gears that are used to catch sea snails. Knowing the different types of gear will provide a better understanding of the later discussed research results. In the second section of this chapter the uses of snails will be listed. This section is divided in food, cultural uses and medicinal uses.

5.1 Fishing gear

The types of fishing gear to catch snails can be divided in three types. The division between these three types of fishing gear is based on interviews with fishermen and literature. The first fishing gear discussed will be the small bucket net. The second gear is the small hoop net called kachaavalai. Then, the third gear, the trawling net, will be discussed. Some overlap between these three nets exists, due to misunderstandings of a name of a net by fishermen, and because of different interpretations of a name of a net.

5.1.1 The small bucket net

The small bucket net is a small net which looks like a bucket. This net is mostly used by older fishermen who are too old to fish on a boat and who are not able to carry heavy nets. This net is used to go through the sand by hand. The sand is washed out of the net because of the holes in the net, so that only the catch remains. The catch consists of shells, crabs and snails. This yield is mostly caught for home use. Selling this catch at the fish market will not bring much benefit, according to the fishermen. Because most people do not know how to prepare snails and shells to eat, the fishermen would have to prepare the snails and shells for them. This is a time consuming job, which does not bring much profit.

5.1.2 The kachaavalai

Before the kachaavalai was in use, people used a ring net locally called nandukatcha. In order to be able to catch snails, this net was slightly modified for babylonia fishing (Chidambaram, 1997). The local name of this new net is kachaavalai. The fishermen use the kachaavalai on fiber boats. The kachaavalai is made of the cod end portion of old trawl nets. The

kachaavalai consists of a ring which is made of 16mm MS rod (Chidambaram, 1997). Under

the ring a conical bag net is fixed. When catching snails, the net is laying on the bottom of the sea, so the net is flat. On top of the net there is a bait to attract the snails which will walk on

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35 the net and be trapped when the fishermen pull the net up. According to Chidambaram (1997) this bait is made of decayed meat of rayfish or cuttle fish. Fishermen gave different answers when I asked what kind of bait was used. Among the answers were fish, frogs and goat meat. The bait is attached to a 10mm nylon rope across the net (Chidambaram, 1997). When fishermen want to catch snails they use a longline on which they fix 75 to 85 kachaavalai. The nets are operated at equal intervals for six to ten hours. The kachaavalai is showed at photo 5.1. (the small blue nets are kachaavalai).

Photo 5.1: The kachaavalai in Chennai

Source: Bavinck, 2009

The type of snail that is caught with the kachaavalai is the Babylonia. In local

language and in trade language the Babylonia Spirita is called the Baigai. Fishermen showed me the shell of the Baigai and told me this snail is called the Baigai. Based on pictures and scientific literature I discovered that the scientific name of the Baigai is Babylonia Spirita (Appukkuttan, 2008). In photo 5.2 a Baigai is shown. These snails are caught for the international market since the demand for these snails increased in 1995 (Bavinck, 2006). Fishermen, including a panchayat leader, in Chinnangudi, a village in Nagapattinam district, told that they rent the net in the city Cuddalore, in the district Cuddalore, south of

Nagapattinam district. They only use the net during the particular fishing season. They did not know exactly when this season is, but the fish traders attend them when it is a good season to catch snails. The fish traders give them the net, and at the end of the season they take the net back to Cuddalore. The fish traders pick up the snails and export them alive. Other fishermen

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36 told me that the panchayat leader of Chinnangudi is the main agent in the trade of snails and that the nets are stored in his house.

Photo 5.2: The Baigai

5.1.3 The trawling net

The trawling net is used on trawler boats to catch chank snails. According to the fishermen the net used to catch snails looks like a general trawling net, but it is adapted to catch snails. The net goes over the bottom of the sea. Figure 5.3 shows how this net works. The snails that these nets catch are big, 20 to 50 centimetre. Fishermen on trawler boats who are not particularly fishing for snails sometimes also catch chank snails as by catch by accident. When this happens the snails are sold at the market. Photo 5.2 is a photo of a chank snail that was being sold at the fish market of Nagapattinam for 1000 rupees. The shell would be send to Calcutta to be sold there. The legal way to catch chanks is done by divers in other parts of the coast. This is also the historical way in which chanks are caught (Government of Tamil Nadu, 2014a).

Photo 5.2: Chank for sale at the fish market of Nagapattinam harbour.

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37 Figure 5.3: How bottom-trawling works

Source: BBC (2009) Retrieved from :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/legacy/thereporters/richardblack/2009/09/fish-report_hits_bottom_note.html

According to Vivekanandan and Kasim (2011) the trawling nets used for chank fishing are nothing but dredges that scrape the sea bottom and cause harm to the benthic system. The actual impact of such activity has not been quantified but that the impact is severe is

something that most fishermen, including a growing number of trawl fishermen, acknowledge (Vivekanandan and Kasim, 2011).

5.2 The uses of snails

In this section the different uses of snails will be explained. The uses are divided into food, cultural uses and medicinal uses. The division between the uses of snails is based on interviews with fishermen and literature. The fish traders, or shell agents, collect the catch from the fishermen and bring it to the seashore. At the seashore the snails are divided according to their use, which depend on the species. This is done by women who are

employed on a daily basis (WWF, 2013). In this section, the food uses will be explained first. Then the cultural uses and third the medicinal uses will be discussed. The uses will also be linked to the different types of snails that are caught with the different nets explained in the previous chapter.

5.2.1 Food

After the species which are edible are separated from the other species, they are exported to the international market to be used as food. These species are mostly the Babylonia snails which are caught with the kachaavalai. Since 1994 there is an increasing demand for these edible Babylonia snails. The snails are exported alive or frozen so the quality will remain

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38 good. There is a price difference between the snails that are exported alive and the snails that are exported frozen. The snails that are exported alive have an export price of around 230,- rupees per kilogram. These snails are exported from Cochin, Chennai, Bangalore and

Trivendrum harbour to China and Taiwan. The snails that are exported frozen have an export price of around 100,- rupees per kilogram. These snails are exported from Conchin and Tuticorin to Taiwan and Vietnam (Cybex, 2014). According to Chidambaram (1997) the snails are exported to Japan and Singapore. The most popular way of eating these snails is to first boil them in water and then serve them cold (photo 5.5). In Japan Babylonia snails are also a delicacy as sushi (photo 5.6).

Photo 5.4: Baigai Photo 5.5: Baigai served Photo 5.6: Baigai served as sushi

Source: Shizuoka Gourmet (2014) Retrieved from:

http://shizuokagourmet.com/shellfish-species-12-japanese-ivory-shell-japanese-babylon shellbaigai/

According to a fisherman in Chinnangudi the fish traders only pick up the snails during the season when fishing for snails brings a lot of yield. When it is not the season the fishermen do not go fishing for these snails, but when they catch the snails as bycatch, they cannot sell them to the fish trader. In this case they eat the snails themselves. The snails are very tasty according to the fishermen.

5.2.2 Cultural uses

Other species are not used for food, but are separated at the seashore for their cultural use. From these species, the women at the seashore separate the meat from the shell. The shells are transported in gunny bags to Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, for the handicraft industry. In

Rameswaram the shells are washed in different concentrations of acid, H2SO4 or HCl, for 2 to 5 minutes, depending on the species, size and thickness of the shell (photo 5.7). The next process is the shaping and the polishing of the shell. This is a very tedious process, which can only be learned by experience. This process plays an important role in making the shell a beautiful product. The cleaned chanks are mainly send to West Bengal for the bangle industry.

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39 The other shells are made into exquisite crafts and home decorating products, such as lamp shades pen stands, clocks photo frames, paper weights, key chains and toys and also

ornamental products for ladies such as earrings, rings, combs, hair clips, bangles, chains etc. (WWF, 2013). Photo 5.9 shows a market stand were different types of crafts made of shells are being sold. Chanks and other forms of shells are also exported, between 1960 and 1964, among others to Germany, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Iraq, Burma, Japan, U.S.A., Ceylon, British Guinea and Singapore. The prices for one kilogram of chank ranged from 1.18 till 30.39 rupees, with an average price of 2.86 rupees per kilogram (Census of India, 1961).

Photo 5.7: Cleaning and washing of shells in acid.

Source: WWF, 2013

Photo 5.8: Shaping and policing of the shells.

Source: WWF, 2013

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40 Photo 5.9: Shells for sale in Pondicherry

A specific type of chank, the Xancuspyrum, is known as the sacred chank in the Hindu culture. This chank is also known as Dakshinavarti Shankh. In the Hindu religion the Shankh symbolizes luster, brilliance, purity and auspiciousness. The sound that comes out of the conch when it is blown is in India associated with the sound OM, which is the first sound of creation. According to the legend, the protector God, Lord Vishu, is the original bearer of the

Shankh. The conch is used as a trumpet to ward of negative vibes and evil spirits. In order to

use the conch as a trumpet the spire of the shell is removed. The shell is also used as the container of sacred water. As an integral part of Hindu symbolic and religious tradition, the blowing on the conch marks the beginning of ceremonies and even wars in the past (photo 5.10). In the Varahapurana, a religious text, it is mentioned that bathing with Dakshinavarti

Shankhs frees one from all sins. Skanthapurana narrates that bathing with this Shankh frees

from sins from seven previous lives. Normally the Xancuspyrum is right-handed, or ‘dextral’ in its shell coiling. These shells are called Varnavarti. Approximately one in 200.000 shells is left-handed, or sinistral in its shell coiling. These rare shells are the Dakshinavarti Shankhs.

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41

Varnavarti is believed to represent the reversal of the laws of nature, because the coiling is

going against the clock. Because of this it is linked with Siva (Lipton et al, 2013). In modern day India, the chank has been treated with reverence with even the products like bangles made out of it, being used exclusively on sacred occasions like marriages etc. Besides the

importance of the chank in the Hindu religion, the chank is also important in Buddhist religion. In Tibetan Buddism the shankh is a religious instrument. The chank is also the emblem of Kerala state and the national emblem of the former Indian princely state of Travancore and kingdom of Kochi (Lipton et al, 2013).

Photo 5.10: A Hindu priest blowing the conch during punja.

Source: Wikipedia (2014) Retrieved from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hindu_priest_blowing_conch_during_punja.jpg

Another cultural way in which snails are used is the incense stick which is made from the operculum of the shell. In the Jewish tradition and in the Christian and Arabian Muslim religion the operculum of certain gastropods is used as incense material. The powder made of operculum is also used by Japanese and Chinese incense makers. In order to remove the fishy smell from the operculum, the operculum is treated with vinegar, alcohol and water. From the cleaned operculum a powder is ground, which is used as a scent fixative. In some countries the operculum is rubbed with an alkali solution prepared from the plant ‘bitter vetch’ in order to remove impurities. After that it is soaked in fermented berry juice of the Caper shrub or in strong white wine, in order to enhance its fragrance (Sundaram and Deshmukh, 2013).

There is a large international market for operculum trade with the price ranging from US $ 7-9 to US $ 44-44.5/kg depending on the species, quality and availability. India is one of the major exporting countries of dried high quality operculum (Sundaram and Deshmukh, 2013). The species which are exported by India are, among others, the Baigai, which is caught with the kachaavalai. Arranged according to their increasing price, the following gastropod

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42 opercula is exported from Mumbai; Babylonia spirita (shell size from 45-51mm), Rapana

bulbosa (65-70mm), Murex virgineus var. ponderosa (80-90mm), Hemifusus cochlidium

(70-80mm), Lambis lambis (90-110mm) and Chicorius ramosus (90-100mm). The opercula are transported to Mumbai in dried form, and from there it is exported to different countries, mostly the eastern countries (Sundaram and Deshmukh, 2013).

5.2.3 Medical uses

Some snails are also used to make medicine. The snail Conus Magus is a sea snail of the

Conidae family (Wye, 1997) and uses venom to paralyze its prey. The venom blocks certain

channels in the body of the pray, and some of these channels are related to how the brain perceives pain. Scientist have been able to separate the toxins to only work with the channels that are related to pain. From the venom drugs are made that work as a pain killer stronger than morphine. This pain killer is sold under the trade name Prialt (The Cone Snail, 2014). Snails from the family Muricidae are the source of a homeopathic remedy Murex, which is used to treat a range of conditions, including cancer (Benny-Morrisson, 2012).

The chank also has a history of being used as medicine in different ways (Hornell, 1914). Per district, and sometimes even per traditional doctor in the same village, the chank is used to cure different diseases and the customs vary. The general believe in Tamil Nadu is that water that has been in touch with an article formed from a chank shell is a charm against skin troubles. The powder of the chank shell is also used to cure a great variety of diseases; asthma, coughs, phthisis, jaundice, affections in the eye, shooting pain in the side, etcetera. According to a doctor, the powder does not help against asthma, but the lime in the shell does help against phthisis. A paste of the powder is also used against headache (Hornell, 1914). If the chank is still used for these medicinal purposes is unknown, but it is sure that it was used in the past.

According to a group of young fishermen in Nambiar Nagar, the opercula of the large snails that are caught with the trawler boats, is exported to Mexico. In Mexico the operculum is used to make drugs. This is white powder called brown sugar, a cheap type of

cocaine/heroine. In Tamil these drugs are called abin. A fisherman in Nambiar Nagar told me that he did not fish for these type of snails in particular, but when he caught them as bycatch he would sell the snail at the fish market in Nagapattinam harbour. I have not been able to

The puzzle of snail fishing : an example of regulating common pool resources in Tamil Nadu, India