Browsing by Author "Jayasinghe-Mudalige, U.K."

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Assessment of water poverty of agricultural farming communities adjacent to Kala Wewa and Siyambalangamuwa reservoirs
(Sri Lanka Association for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, 2015) Wimalasena, S.S.; Kularatne, M.G.; Amarasinghe, U.S.; Jayasinghe-Mudalige, U.K.
Provision of safe water in sufficient quantities has become a major upcoming issue globally, because water is considered as one of the most critically stressed natural resources and act as a major livelihood capital. Lack of access to water is directly associated with the nature and state of poverty; thus, it becomes a necessity that water is allocated in more equitable manner at every level, i.e. from individual household to the national. The root causes associated with water poverty and reservoir water management and the areas of greatest need to facilitate the prioritization of action towards integrated water management aiming equity and transparency in the Kala Wewa (2,914 ha) and Siyambalangamuwa reservoirs (788 ha) in the North-Western Province of Sri Lanka were investigated using the Water Poverty Index (WPI) – a multifaceted index with its values range from ‘0’ (minimum) to ‘100’ (maximum) and is estimated by taking the weighted sum of scores provided by respondents to five major components, including: (1) Resources; (2) Access; (3) Capacity; (4) Use, and (5) Environment, and each is characterized by several sub components. The data were collected from agricultural farming communities adjacent to these reservoirs by means of a series of in-depth personal interviews supported by a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Principal Component Analysis was employed to select the components with a large variance and to discard those with a smaller variance, and those indicators retained (i.e. the 1st Principal Components associated with Eigenvalues greater than 0.7) were combined using an additive aggregation. The estimated WPI was 76.24 to which the contribution of each component was, in their order: Capacity (17.79), Access (17.75), Use (15.47), Resources (12.93), and Environment (12.30). It was revealed that the severe drought condition prevailed in 2013 and 2014; chronic kidney disease, and the low rate of water quality assessment have led into low contribution from Environment component. The outcome of analysis implies that the information generated through WPI can be used effectively at the ‘ground level’ to assess the relationships between water and poverty that enables implementation of new strategies aiming integrated water management in reservoir-based communities in Sri Lanka.
Cultural Services of Urban Coastal Ecosystems: Assessing the Value of View to the Indigenous Community
(Research Centre for Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Ranjan, K.R.H.M.; Guruge, T.P.S.R.; Jayasinghe-Mudalige, U.K.
The study aimed to assess the value of cultural services of an urban coastal ecosystem .Admitting those inherent difficulties associated with defining the cultural services, which were slender down into few cultural values, namely :aesthetic, social relations, sense of place, and cultural heritage values .Negombo lagoon was selected as the study site, and the view of the site was justified to explain the cultural services of lagoon in concern .The lagoon area was geographically segregated into areas known as “Thotupola ”where the fisherman used to launch their fishing boats .Contingent Valuation Method was applied to assess the community preferences for lagoon view to which the ‘bid values ’identified through the pilot survey )i.e .Rs . 25,000; Rs .50,000; Rs .75,000 and Rs .100,000 (were used .Primary data were gathered through a face-to- face interview, supported by a structured questionnaire, with 300 respondents representing 15 ‘Thotupola ’ areas .The outcome of assessment highlights that nearly 75 percent of respondents answered “positively ”to the particular bid values listed and 32 percent did not say “yes ”to any of all the bid values offered by the payment principle questions )non-protest zeroes and less than minimum bid value .(Further, it has been revealed that the age, gender, level of education and income had significant impact on the mean willingness- to-pay )MWTP(, i.e .excess amount of money that they willing to pay for direct lagoon view, and the MWTP was Rs .46,792 per perch.
HACCP and tea processing sector in Sri Lanka: effect of market and non-market incentives for adoption
(University of Kelaniya, 2008) Kanuwana, K.P.N.G.; Jayasinghe-Mudalige, U.K.
Harmonizing water allocation for multiple uses in irrigation reservoirs of the Kala Oya river basin, Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Wimalasena, S.S.; Kularatne, M.G.; Jayasinghe-Mudalige, U.K.; Amarasinghe, U.S.
The primary use of many lowland reservoirs in Sri Lanka is to supply of water for irrigation, and inland fishery has become a secondary use. In the present study, four irrigation reservoirs in the Kala Oya river basin, namely: Dewahuwa, Kala Wewa, Siyambalangamuwa and Usgala-Siyambalangamuwa were selected to investigate the optimum water requirements for irrigation, fisheries and other small-scale economic activities such as livestock farming and brick making. A cross section (from year 2014 to 2015) of household heads (n=756) adjacent to the four reservoirs were interviewed to gather information on their degree of dependence on reservoir water for those multiple uses. General Stochastic Production Frontier Model was employed to evaluate the technical efficiency of water uses for various economic activities, and to quantify the volume of water that can be saved through more efficient uses. Water poverty index (WPI) was estimated to investigate accessibility and availability of water for multiple uses. Water valuation and optimum level of water allocation between uses were then calculated based on Marginal Value Product (MVP). The results indicated that the highest technical efficiency of water uses was for fisheries followed by livestock farming, rice farming and brick making, mainly due to nonconsumptive use of reservoir water for fisheries. The lowest WPI was in Dewahuwa reservoir situated in the upper region of Kala Oya river basin followed by Kalawewa, Usgla-Siyambanagamuwa and Siyambalangamuwa, which were located in the lower regions of the river basin where water uses for irrigation and other consumptive uses are much higher. In terms of MVP, the value of product for a unit of water use was higher for livestock farming and brick making. However, these economic activities are less significant compared to agriculture and fisheries. As such, this analysis highlights the need for concerted action of reservoir water management through cooperation between irrigation and fisheries authorities.
Herklotsichthys quadrimaculatus Korumburuwa in the stilt fishery in Southern Sri Lanka: Are they really poisonous?
(Sri Lanka Journal of Aquatic Sciences, 2016) Deepananda, K.H.M.A.; Amarasinghe, U.S.; Jayasinghe-Mudalige, U.K.
Human wellbeing in South Asia: an empirical analysis based on macroeconomic indicators affecting food security
(University of Kelaniya, 2008) Sajeewani, K.G.L.; Edirisinghe, J.C.; Jayasinghe-Mudalige, U.K.
Indigenous knowledge in the beach seine fisheries in Sri Lanka: An indispensable factor in community-based fisheries management
(Journal of Marine Policy, 2015) Deepananda, K.H.M.A.; Amarasinghe, U.S.; Jayasinghe-Mudalige, U.K.
Small-scale fishing over the globe is based primarily on fisher indigenous knowledge (IK), accumulated through many generations of close interactions between people and the natural world. Community-based beach seine fisher communities of southern Sri Lanka were studied through standard ethnographic methods to ascertain the traditional method in using fishers’ IK, and explore empirically the accuracy in using those methods distilled from the traditional fishers. Study revealed that, inter alia, traditional fishers use IK to predict the commencement of fishing season, and identify and quantify the species composition occurring at their fishing territory. Ten traditional methods those which are important for identifying and quantifying the fish school were distilled. Explored methods frequently used by traditional fishers were based on the changes of seawater color (folk oceanography) and the behaviour of sea terns (Sterna sp.). Traditional fishers’ responses on frequency of utility of explored methods in day-to-day fishing activities were in accordance with the findings of the empirical study. Moreover, principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that PC score loading in fishers’ expectation and fishers’ realization had a positive significant relationship (r=0.814, p<0.001). This indicated that traditional fishers’ expectation on composition and quantity of fish school arriving at fishing territory (ex-ante) is accurate and reliable at the realization (ex-post). As such, there exist opportunities to fisheries co-management for the coastal fisheries in Sri Lanka, incorporating fishers’ indigenous knowledge in resource exploitation.
Institutional robustness averts Hardin’s tragedy of the commons in the community-based beach seine fisheries in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Deepananda, K.H.M.A.; Amarasinghe, U.S.; Jayasinghe-Mudalige, U.K.
Small scale coastal fisheries accounts for nearly 40% of world fish catches and provide direct employment for more than 90% of the world fishers employed in capture fisheries. Subsequent recognition of the failures of centralized fisheries management led the governments to accept community-based management as an invaluable means to formulate fisheries management. Such traditional management practices exist in beach seine fisheries of Sri Lanka. Study ascertains and documents the rules and norms that are in general not formerly codified in writing, and evaluate empirically the compliance of elements of customary governance with Ostrom‘s modified design principles (MDP) for long enduring commons management systems. Eight beach seine fisher communities were studied using standard ethnographic methods, and evaluation of compliance with MDP was carried out by administering structured questionnaires. Fishing rights in contiguous sea were vested to the villagers who lived in the sea front, as a residential proximity right. Due to this tradition, the ownership of a beach seine and fishing rights came in three ways identified as: exclusive right, primary rights and secondary right. Sole authority for governing the commons was vested to community organization termed ―madelsamithi‖, considered as the local administrative unit. Institution governing the commons addressed the excludability problem by defining fishing territory, eligibility rules and intercommunity access rule, while subtractability problem was addressed by gear rules, temporal allocation rules, first comer rules, fishing behaviour rules, conservation rules, and rules for distribution of benefits. Institutional architecture of beach seine fisher communities exhibited the high compliance with MDP. Out of the 11 MDP, fisher communities showed very high compliance with four MDP and high compliance with six MDP. Only one MDP had a lower level compliance. As empirical evaluation on architecture of customary institutions shows high compliance with MDP, beach seine fisher communities can be treated as those govern commons through selfgoverning institutions. Beach seining in southern Sri Lanka is, therefore an example for wellmanaged commons that relies on strong, locally crafted rules as well as evolved norms, where institutional and governance mechanisms have essentially averted the ―tragedy of the commons‖. Study provides the starkness to the notion that local actors in tropical communitybased marine resource systems overcome the tragedy of the commons through robust selfgoverning institutions.
Neither bust nor boom: Institutional robustness in the beach seine fishery of southern Sri Lanka
(2016) Deepananda, K.H.M.A.; Amarasinghe, U.S.; Jayasinghe-Mudalige, U.K.
Many fisheries authorities in the world have been compelled to accept community-based management as an invaluable means to formulate fisheries management due to failures of small-scale fisheries exclusively managed by centralized units. Beach seine fishing practices in Sri Lanka are known to be institutionalized by traditional community-based coastal fisheries management systems. Eight beach seine fisher communities in southern Sri Lanka were studied, using standard ethnographic methods, to ascertain and document the rules and norms that are in general not formerly codified in writing, and evaluate empirically the compliance of institutional arrangements with Ostrom's modified design principles for long enduring common pool resources (CPR) management systems. Fishing rights were vested to the villagers as a residential proximity right. Due to this tradition, ownership of a beach seine and fishing rights at fishing territory vested them as; exclusive, primary or secondary rights. The sole authority for governing CPR was vested to community organization termed “madel samithi” (beach seine society), which can be treated as the local administrative unit. Institutions governing the CPR addressed the excludability problem by defining fishing territory, eligibility rules and intercommunity access rule, while subtractability problem was addressed by gear rules, temporal allocation rules, first comer rules, fishing behaviour rules, conservation rules, and rules for distribution of benefits. The study highlighted that institutional architecture of beach seine fishery of southern Sri Lanka comprised all modified design principles and, 90.9% of those exhibited higher compliance (54.5% – high compliance and 36.4% – very high compliance) with modified design principles. Higher compliance of institutional arrangements with modified design principles indicates robust and stable self-governing institutions. Beach seine fishing in southern Sri Lanka is therefore an example for community-based coastal fisheries management system that relies on strong, locally crafted rules as well as evolved norms, where institutional and governance mechanisms have essentially averted the tragedy, providing significant contribution to coastal economy. Study provides the starkness to the notion that local actors in tropical community-based marine resource systems overcome the CPR dilemmas through robust self-governing institutions.
Stilt fisher knowledge in southern Sri Lanka as an expert system: A strategy towards co-management
(2016) Deepananda, K.H.M.; Amarasinghe, U.S.; Jayasinghe-Mudalige, U.K.; Berkes, F.
Most small-scale fisheries throughout the world are based primarily on fisher knowledge, which is essentially experiential knowledge consisting of a replicable, verbally transmitted set of skills. Even though fisher knowledge is well documented for some fisheries, there are only a few studies that explain how it actually works as a management system. Stilt fishing is a unique method confined to the southern coast of Sri Lanka. We studied traditional stilt fisher knowledge as an expert system that helps make decisions for successful fishing. Study shows that traditional fisher knowledge base and the decision-making process can be explained as an expert system. Fisher knowledge on biological and physical indicators that gives cues on commencement date of fishing season, arrival of fish schools and its composition and ecology and behaviour of target fish were distilled and empirically confirmed. Traditional stilt fishers were found to hold detailed knowledge about weather, fishing season, feeding and migratory behaviour of target fishes, mainly the bluestripe herring (Herklotsichthys quadrimaculatus). Empirical studies on feeding behaviour, movement and migratory path of bluestripe herring indicate the reliability of fisher knowledge. Fishers’ expectations before starting fishing (ex-ante) on species composition arriving at fishing territory were 100% accurate at the actual harvest in conclusion of fishing (ex-post). Success in fishing depends mainly on technical skills, and there exists considerable variation in the level of expertise among fishers. Traditional fishers are more successful in fishing than non-traditional fishers. Traditional stilt fishers provide inexpensive information that can complement scientific information to produce better management outcomes. Fisher knowledge can therefore be effectively utilized in formulating policies for co-management of coastal fisheries in Sri Lanka. Opportunities exist to set up proper baseline for the management of artisanal coastal fisheries with the ultimate aim of incorporating traditional fisher knowledge into management decision making.