Browsing by Author "Berkes, Fikret"

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    Climate change adaptation in coastal shrimp aquaculture: A case from northwestern Sri Lanka
    Galappaththi, Eranga K.; Berkes, Fikret; Ford, James D. (2019)
    Unexpected temperature variations and rainfall patterns have direct, adverse impacts on shrimp farmers in northwestern Sri Lanka. Specifically, changing climatic conditions impact patterns of shrimp disease spread along an interconnected lagoon and make it difficult for shrimp farmers to predict and control the lagoon—the primary water source for coastal shrimp aquaculture. This paper examines how small-scale shrimp farmers adapt to the impacts of climate change by collectively managing shrimp disease. We studied three shrimp farming communities in northwestern Sri Lanka and analysed adaptation using a social-ecological resilience approach with a four-part framework: (1) living with uncertainty — shrimp farmers deal with the uncertain nature of the shrimp business by controlling (rather than trying to eliminate) disease; (2) nurturing diversity — farmers tend to diversify their income sources to include other activities and they also increase the risk of disease by dispersing pond waste water in space and time; (3) employing different kinds of knowledge — farmers combine their experience with large-scale (failed) companies, their own experience, government technical expertise, and new knowledge from adaptive management (the “zonal crop calendar system”); and (4) creating opportunities for self-organization — farmers have built on their experiences with producer cooperatives, known as samithi, to self-organize into a multi-level community-based management structure. Collaboration and collective action are central features of this adaptation mechanism. This small-scale shrimp aquaculture system is persistent, i.e. sustainable and resilient because it is continually adapting.
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    Drama of the commons in small-scale shrimp aquaculture in northwestern Sri Lanka
    Galappaththi, Eranga K.; Berkes, Fikret (Uopen Journals, 2015-01-01)
    Aquaculture, and shrimp aquaculture in particular, can have major social and environmental impacts. However, aquaculture remains an understudied area in commons research. Can aspects of commons theory be applied to solve problems of aquaculture? We examined three coastal community-based shrimp aquaculture operations in northwestern Sri Lanka using a case study approach. These shrimp farms were individually owned by small producers and managed under local-level rules designed by cooperatives (samithi). The common-pool resource of major interest was water for aquaculture ponds, obtained from an interconnected water body. We evaluated the shrimp farming social-ecological system by using Ostrom’s design principles for collective action. Key elements of the system were: clearly defined boundaries; collaboratively designed crop calendar, bottom-up approach involving community associations, multi-level governance, and farmers-and-government collaborative structures. Together, these elements resolved the excludability and subtractability problems of commons by establishing boundary and membership rules and collective choice rules.
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    Institutions for managing common-pool resources: The case of community-based shrimp aquaculture in northwestern Sri Lanka
    Galappaththi, Eranga K.; Berkes, Fikret (2014)
    Large-scale shrimp aquaculture can have major social and environmental impacts. Can community-based approaches be used instead? We examined three coastal community-based shrimp aquaculture operations in northwestern Sri Lanka using a case study approach. These shrimp farms were individually owned by small producers and managed under community-level rules. The system was characterized by three layers of institutions: community-level shrimp farmers’ associations; zone-level associations; and a national-level shrimp farming sector association. The national level was represented by a joint body of government and sector association. We evaluated the effectiveness of this institutional structure especially with regard to the management of shrimp disease that can spread through the use of a common water body. Lower operational costs make them a highly attractive alternative to large-scale aquaculture. In many ways, private shrimp aquaculture ownership with community-level institutions, and government supervision and coordination seem to work well.
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    Resilience-based steps for adaptive co-management of Arctic small-scale fisheries
    Galappaththi, Eranga K.; Falardeau, Marianne; Harris, Les N.; Rocha, Juan C.; Moore, Jean-Sébastien; Berkes, Fikret (IOP Publishing, 2022-08-12)
    Arctic small-scale fisheries are essential for the livelihoods, cultures, nutrition, economy, and food security of Indigenous communities. Their sustainable management in the rapidly changing Arctic is thus a key priority. Fisheries management in complex systems such as the Arctic would benefit from integrative approaches that explicitly seek to build resilience. Yet, resilience is rarely articulated as an explicit goal of Arctic fisheries management. Here, we first describe how marine and anadromous fisheries management throughout the North has used the notion of resilience through a literature review of 72 peer-reviewed articles. Second, we make a conceptual contribution in the form of steps to implement adaptive co-management that aim to foster resilience. Building on resilience-based insights from the literature review and foundational research on adaptive co-management and resilience, the steps we propose are to initiate and carry out (1) dialogue through a discussion forum, (2) place-based social-ecological participatory research, (3) resilience-building management actions, (4) collaborative monitoring, and (5) joint process evaluation. Additionally, we propose action items associated with the steps to put adaptive co-management into practice. Third, we assess two case studies, Cambridge Bay and Pangnirtung Arctic Char commercial fisheries, to explore how the five steps can help reinforce resilience through adaptive co-management. Overall, we propose novel guidelines for implementing adaptive co-management that actively seeks to build resilience within fishery social-ecological systems in times of rapid, uncertain, and complex environmental change.