Emerging trends and challenges in multidisciplinary research: experience from culture-based fisheries development in Sri Lanka and elsewhere

Abstract

In many developing countries, especially in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, populations remain vulnerable to undernourishment with the average caloric intake which is far lower than 2,120 kcal per person. Geographical boundaries limit expansion of areas for agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries. At the current rate of population growth and consumption, it is difficult to envisage that the current global food system could meet this consumptive demand. Intensification of food production is therefore an alternative means to narrow down the gap between demand for food and supply. In the fisheries sector, it has been recognized that fisheries enhancement through environmentally friendly approaches is bound to contribute to increase food fish production especially in developing countries. Culture-based fisheries (CBF) development is an underutilized opportunity in fisheries enhancement, and the extensive availability of inland reservoirs in the country, which have primarily been constructed for irrigation of crop lands during ancient times, favours CBF development in Sri Lanka. Through concerted efforts, Sri Lanka achieved a great success in CBF development in small village reservoirs in the country. The CBF in village reservoirs of Sri Lanka is a communal activity involving agricultural farmers without prior experience in fisheries. As such, efforts for CBF development in village reservoirs are invariably based on a multidisciplinary approach considering biological productivity-related parameters such as reservoir morphometry, allochthonous input of nutrients through livestock farming, and socio-economic characteristics of rural communities which favour CBF. Such multidisciplinary approaches are particularly useful for CBF development in village reservoirs due to the fact that socioeconomic homogeneity with regard to kinship, political ideology, education level and good leadership qualities of group members in the aquaculture management committees of agricultural farmers’ organizations have a positive influence on the attitudes towards adoption of CBF in village reservoirs. As such, biological and ecological factors alone pertaining to CBF development are not sufficient for sustainability of this development effort. As the needs and aspirations of rural people together with market forces play significant roles in adoption of CBF by rural agricultural farmers, their socioeconomic characteristics are also needed to be considered for selecting suitable reservoirs for CBF development.