Fishing the Temporal Semicommons- A Case Study on the Traditional Paddy Field Wetland Fisheries of Srikakulam District, Andhra Pradesh, India

Man-made wetlands, such as paddy fields of Asia present an interesting case of the semicommons. The traditional rice-fish cultures are well documented in North-eastern India, but poorly understood in other parts of the country. In this context the present study attempts to explore the semicommons in the context of man-made paddy field wetlands in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, India by adopting the temporal semicommons framework. The findings of the present study suggest that paddy field wetlands are used as private rice fields with very defined private property rights when the rice crop is standing and are open to the public for fishing after harvesting of the rice crop. The transition and reversibility of property rights and ownership of paddy fields at different time scales under different ownership rubrics presents an interesting instance of the temporal semicommons. However, further studies are necessary to investigate the different facets of paddy field wetland fisheries from the lens of property rights perspective.