Case studies on dynamics of Self Help Groups in Mussel culture

Abstract

The open access regime existing in the harvesting of marine fishery resources in our country warrants stronger emphasis on invoking technological innovations as well as management paradigms that reconcile livelihood issues with concerns on resource conservation. Being the premier Marine Fisheries Research Institute in India with more than 6 decades of service to the nation, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) suggests ways and means to sustain the potential source of food in capture and culture fisheries and their optimum utilisation. Innovations do not happen in a socio-political vacuum. It is the extent of partnership between the research and the client system that decides the fate of any technology in terms of its adoption or rejection. Rational utilization of common property resources for sustainable development without endangering the environment is possible through community participation. Mussel culture offers good scope for development in our open waters for enhancing food and livelihood security of the stakeholders in our coastal agro climatic zones. Mussel farming has already been proved as one of the profitable enterprises in the coastal belts as a subsidiary income-deriving source of coastal fisherfol