ABSTRACT
Households in fishing communities on the west and east coasts of Sri Lanka engage in internal seasonal migration (coastal and coast to coast) to pursue small-scale fishing and fisheries-based livelihoods. The chapter focuses on the material, relational, and subjective factors underlying the households’ gendered decision-making, using a social well-being approach. It is based on the quantitative and qualitative data from four fishing communities, two in Puttalam District (west coast) and two in Trincomalee District (east coast). Gendered migration patterns, enabling and disabling factors, and the costs and benefits of migration processes for the well-being of household members are assessed. The role of social relations and networks as both enabling and disabling factors for migration is emphasized. The chapter argues that understanding the relative importance placed on material, relational, and subjective well-being dimensions by different individuals, fishing households, and communities is critical to making sense of migration-related decisions and their consequences.
