Fishery and livelihood: The reservoir has accommodated about 120 fishermen families. Nearly 70 families are permanently located along the banks of the reservoir and the remaining 50 families migrate to the reservoir during the monsoon season. These families have distinct social and cultural features.

Table - 1 Yearly data on seeds introduced in reservoir

They live entirely demarcated from the outer world and their links are limited to merchants. Generally all these communities are very poor. Most of them are uneducated and the new generation has got 3-4 years of basic education. The involvement of children in fisheries is often noted in the entire area. These children withdrawn from schools and are involved in fishing.

Management Structure : The Deputy Director of Fisheries regulates the fishery in Linganamakki reservoir. Obtaining yearly license is compulsory for all the fishermen for fishing in the reservoir. The fee structure for gill net with a length of 500 m is Rs. 1000/- per year, cast net Rs. 300/- per year and hooks Rs. 100/- per year. The departmental data shows that at present about 200 license holders are in the reservoir area. Thus, the department is earning 1.65lakh rupees of revenue annually from this source. Even though the seeds are to be introduced early during the monsoon seasons, in order to avoid over­flow and washing off of the seeds, they are introduced after the monsoon season. The year wise seeding pattern for the last 20 years is given in Table1. The quantity of seeds introduced depends on availability and the department gives least reference to the reservoir. During the last two years, seeding quantity has reduced to a minimum.

Fishermen Co-operative Society: Fishermen Co­operative Society, which is located in Sagar taluk (Shimoga district, Karnataka State) has presently 412 members belonging to fishermen and fish merchants with their share being Rs. 13,895/- and the Government's share being Rs. 10,000/-. But the fishing activities in the reservoir are more or less under the control of merchants. The society's effort to take control over fish marketing is in vain as the fishermen sell fish to merchants instead of selling to the society. This kind of a system is governed by the mutual dependence of fishermen and merchants. From the beginning the fishermen and merchants are closely linked due to flexible credit and services. As fish catch is highly fluctuating over the season, fishermen borrow loans from the merchants for smooth running of their livelihood and the reimbursement is in the form of fish during rainy season. The loans are as high Rs. 60.000/ -.

The Department has banned the use of dragnets; there are certain fishermen using dragnets for netting large quantity of fish with less effort. The department lacks infrastructure such as manpower to monitor such unauthorized activities. Fishing with hooks and lines is a hobby to many people residing near the reservoir.

Early monsoon is the best season for the fishermen. During this period, the quantity of fish collected varies between 20-50 kg/ day / trip. As soon as the fishermen reach the base with the harvest, merchants collect the fishes on the spot. During other seasons, as the fish catch reduces to 1-2 kg./day, merchants shift to sea fish. Thus, during such sea­sons, women sell the collected fish in the nearby villages. Since the data on quantity of fish harvested is not available, the exact quantification and yearly harvest cannot be estimated. As per the fishermen, the fish catch per unit effort is decreasing continuously.