Jambudwip Marine Fishery, India

Resource System
Coastal marine ecosystem
Resource Units
Demersal and midwater fish stocks

Jambudwip, an island in the Bay of Bengal, is located about 7 miles to the southwest of Bakkhali in the South 24 Parganas district in the state of West Bengal, India. The original case, which spans from 1967-1968, catalogues an action situation involving approximately 243 fishermen in the village; the resource unit are demersal and midwater fish species. The boundary is based on traditional use and technology limitations. Two distinct types of institutional arrangements exist among the appropriators: 1) a communal form in which all fishers share expenses and profits equally and 2) an entrepreneurial form in which one individual bankrolls the fishing operation, paying the other fishers a wage. Based on the source document, there is insufficient information on whether this case was deemed to be a success or not. 

This case study is part of the original Common-Pool Resource (CPR) database. A summary of the original CPR coding conducted in the 1980s by Edella Schlager and Shui Yan Tang at Indiana University may be found under the CPR tab under Institutional Analysis.