- Resource System
- Coastal lagoon ecosystem
- Resource Units
- Marine fish stocks
- Location
- Negombo Lagoon (r), Sri Lanka
Negombo Lagoon (3,164 ha) is located on Sri Lanka's west coast -- about 30 km north of the capital Colombo. This study discusses a community-initiated common property regime in the Negombo lagoon suffering from the problem of open access. The analysis focuses on the Stake-Net Fishery Association (SNFA) in the channels of the Negombo lagoon. The SNFA is an example of a long-standing collective arrangement for successfully limiting open access. The determinants of the success of the SNFA are examined in four sectors: resource system characteristics, group characteristics, relationship between the resource system and group characteristics, and institutional arrangements.
This case was part of a study to determine whether the institutional design principles of Ostrom where, in fact, related to "governance success" by Cox et al. In that analysis, this case was classified as a success.
Ratajczyk E, Arizona State University.
Brady U, Arizona State University.
. 2008. The stake-net fishery association of Negombo lagoon, Sri Lanka: Why has it survived over 250 years and will it survive. Promise, Trust and Evolution: Managing the Commons of South Asia. :144-164.
. 2010. A Review of Design Principles for Community-based Natural Resource Management. Ecology and Society. 15(4):38.
. 2016. Explaining success and failure in the commons: the configural nature of Ostrom’s institutional design principles. International Journal of the Commons. 10(2):417–439.