Exploring Values and Beliefs in a Complex Coastal Social-Ecological System: A Case of Small-Scale Fishery and Dried Fish Production in Sagar Island, Indian Sundarbans

The survivability of the small-scale fishery and dried fish production in Indian Sundarbans, despite increasing threats posed by climate, environmental, economic, and policy drivers, suggests that they possess certain unique strengths and capabilities. One thread of these strengths is connected to the fact that Sundarbans’ fishery system is strongly anchored in the values and beliefs of the local fishing communities. There is, however, limited empirical information available on the prevailing individual and collective attitudes, expectations, traditions, customs, and, above all, values and beliefs that strongly influence local fishing communities of Sundarbans. This manuscript aims to address this gap by drawing on qualitative data to (1) map the nature of values and beliefs associated with the Sundarbans’ Sagar Island fishing communities who are engaged in small-scale fishery and dried fish production; and (2) highlight the contributions of values and beliefs to the small-scale fishery and dried fish production systems of Sagar Island. Our study reveals that historical factors such as the patriarchal and patrilineal system prevalent in the Indian Sundarbans as well as the current drivers, including environmental and social-economic changes, create inconsistent values and beliefs among male and female members of its society. Issues around values and beliefs are heavily influenced by social-ecological realities comprising material, relational and subjective dimensions. They can range from being strictly personal to largely community-oriented as they are shaped by realities of gender, class, power dynamics, and politics. Values and beliefs are fundamental to human perception and cognition but often get neglected in mainstream literature covering human dimensions of resource management. Our research adds weight to the theoretical and place-based understanding of the contributions of values and beliefs to the small-scale fishery and dried fish production systems. We learn from the case study that values and beliefs can act as mirrors, reflecting the current as well as future realities of small-scale fisheries and dried fish production systems and provide important directions for sustainability and viability of the entire social-ecological system that hosts this sector.

Comparative Assessment of Livelihood Vulnerability of Climate Induced Migrants: A Micro Level Study on Sagar Island, India

The effects of climate change are causing large scale human displacements over the past few decades. Climate refugees are putting the biggest challenges to the geophysical biological and social system all over the world. This paper attempts to assess and compare the vulnerability of the climate-induced migrants and regular settlers of selected mouzas of Sagar Island, south 24parganas, India. People are witnessing their lands vanishing under their feet in these constantly sinking and shrinking deltaic estuaries of Sundarban. Findings of LVI and LVI-IPCC analysis indicate that the climate-induced migrant communities are more exposed to climatic variability due to the poor adaptive capacity. Moreover, poor access to food, water, health facilities is making them extremely vulnerable with lower resilience as these mouzas are facing frequent flooding, severe coastal erosion, embankment breaching and higher storm surge on annual basis. The outcomes of this study could be beneficial ineffective on-site risk management and planning propositions.

Variations of surface water quality in selected tidal creeks of Sagar Island, Indian Sundarban eco-region: a multivariate approach

Sagar Island in Indian Sundarbans is bestowed with numerous tidal creeks providing a suitable home to its inherent aquatic biota. The present study investigated the variation in the surface water quality in selected tidal creeks of Sagar Island, Indian Sundarbans to understand the present status of water quality for wildlife propagation and fisheries. Ten water parameters were taken into consideration for analysis on monthly basis from four stations (tidal creeks) from September 2015 to August 2016. One-way ANOVA showed five parameters (water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and chemical oxygen demand) varied significantly between seasons (p ≤ 0.05). Factor analysis exhibited four factors explaining 53.21% total variance in the observed data. Salinity and turbidity showed a maximum annual range of variations followed by dissolved oxygen. The fluctuations of physicochemical parameters throughout the year hinted toward the ever-changing nature of the estuarine ecosystem with possible human-induced impacts. Pronounced variation in turbidity seemed to be the effect of ferrying/transportation, monsoonal runoff and other human-induced activities. In the present study, water parameters viz., water temperature, dissolved oxygen and turbidity were the deterministic parameters influencing the variables in the system. The other important parameters were found to be COD, BOD3 and nitrate concentrations during the study period. The study shall provide baseline information in formulating the management measures in terms of water quality in wildlife propagation and fisheries.

Comparative Assessment of Livelihood Vulnerability of Climate Induced Migrants: A Micro Level Study on Sagar Island, India

The effects of climate change are causing large scale human displacements over the past few decades. Climate refugees are putting the biggest challenges to the geophysical biological and social system all over the world. This paper attempts to assess and compare the vulnerability of the climate-induced migrants and regular settlers of selected mouzas of Sagar Island, south 24parganas, India. People are witnessing their lands vanishing under their feet in these constantly sinking and shrinking deltaic estuaries of Sundarban. Findings of LVI and LVI-IPCC analysis indicate that the climate-induced migrant communities are more exposed to climatic variability due to the poor adaptive capacity. Moreover, poor access to food, water, health facilities is making them extremely vulnerable with lower resilience as these mouzas are facing frequent flooding, severe coastal erosion, embankment breaching and higher storm surge on annual basis. The outcomes of this study could be beneficial ineffective on-site risk management and planning propositions.