Understanding fisheries conflicts in the South - A legal pluralist perspective

Fifty years after the launching of a blue revolution in the capture fisheries of developing countries, conflicts between small-scale and industrialized fishers continue to be vehement. Our understanding of backgrounds, however, lags behind. This article seeks to give content to the issue of conflict in the context of marine capture fisheries. By connecting the conflicts that are taking place to the livelihoods of small-scale and industrialized fishers and to their varied social and legal systems, a deeper understanding of the problem is achieved. According to the legal pluralist perspective, conflicts of the kind considered are related to the fact that participants adhere to different sea tenure systems, the tenets of which vary substantially. The perspective is illustrated by means of an example from the Coromandel Coast, India.