Co-management in pro-poor aquaculture: Lesson learnt from cases in eastern India

Fisheries co-management secures sustainability of fisheries that also ensures food security of a wide range of stakeholders and eradicates poverty within the poorer section of people, who are basically the primary stakeholders. In this research article, five case studies have been discussed and analysed from the two states namely West Bengal and Tripura, where co-management approaches had been followed with different perspectives to achieve success in pro-poor aquaculture, addressing the issues of vulnerability to a greater extent. These five case studies have highlighted the success of the co-management approaches in pro-poor aquaculture system in five different contexts, namely Beel fishery system of large water body, Marketing of fish seeds, Small individual pond system, Reservoir fishery management and Management of Earthen Pots Makers Association for production of value-added dry fishes. All these five cases critically showed how these co-management pioneers devised their plans, executed those into action, and monitored and evaluated their work in transforming the pro-poor aquaculture.