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Abstract
The extensive urbanization and intensive tourism coupled with heavy siltation have adversely affected
fisheries in the lakes of Kashmir. The study has found the trends in fish production and the stakeholders
willingness to pay (WTP) for growth and sustainability of traditional and choiced Schizothorax fish
species in these lakes. The logit model has been fitted to 8 sets of stakeholders independently while the
Tobit model has been used to identify the variables that influenced the WTP of the stakeholders across
the two lakes. Both the models have yielded comparable results. Income, time spent on lakes and traders
have emerged significant across primary stakeholders and income, education and consumers have emerged
significant in the case of secondary stakeholders with expected signs. On the whole, income has emerged
as the single most important variable that determined WTP of stakeholders. This study has addressed the
issues involved in fish production in Kashmir lakes in the context of decline in fish production, misplaced
priorities in terms of species patronage, use priorities and the policy issues involved.