Truncated Growth and Compromised Sustainability: The Case of Lake Fisheries in Kashmir

The extensive urbanization and intensive tourism coupled with heavy siltation have adversely affected fisheries in the lakes of Kashmir. The study has found the trends in fish production and the stakeholders willingness to pay (WTP) for growth and sustainability of traditional and choiced Schizothorax fish species in these lakes. The logit model has been fitted to 8 sets of stakeholders independently while the Tobit model has been used to identify the variables that influenced the WTP of the stakeholders across the two lakes. Both the models have yielded comparable results. Income, time spent on lakes and traders have emerged significant across primary stakeholders and income, education and consumers have emerged significant in the case of secondary stakeholders with expected signs. On the whole, income has emerged as the single most important variable that determined WTP of stakeholders. This study has addressed the issues involved in fish production in Kashmir lakes in the context of decline in fish production, misplaced priorities in terms of species patronage, use priorities and the policy issues involved.