Place-based understanding of Chilika fishery: power, affect, and materiality

The study explores the emplaced nature of fishing practices at Chilika by employing post-humanist geographer's ontological strand on the concept of 'place'. It investigates three defining aspects of Chilika fishery, i.e. declining fish catch, the prevalence of aquaculture, and the practice of mahajani. The study finds complex and place-specific interactions among materiality, institutional dynamics, and human agency shaping Chilika fishery. The data collection method for the paper consists of key informant interviews, FGDs, and ethnography. The study explores emplaced interactions among the materiality of fish and fishing sources, the dynamics of micro-power relations at the community level, and fishers' active human agency. The paper concludes by highlighting the scope of extending its arguments beyond Chilika fishery to other sectors of resource governance.