Community Based Fisheries Management in Bangladesh
Dasherhat Chara
Click here to download the complete report
Dasherhat Chara, the project water body, is an oxbow lake located in Kurigram. This 700 hectare lake was stocked, in 2001 and in 2002, and a sanctuary was also created. BRAC is the implementing NGO. In this report we will make an assessment of the impact of the second stocking on the livelihoods of the stakeholders. We conducted a detailed study of two project villages for this purpose. However, the overall context of livelihoods change at the local level is crucial for understanding livelihoods impact of this project.
Kurigram is a poverty prone district in Bangladesh. Livelihoods assets are not only scarce but they are also distributed very unevenly amongst the households. As a result livelihood options are very limited. Livelihood opportunities are available more outside the village than inside. Migration is therefore widespread. Agriculture is not a very rewarding activity and consequently agricultural wages are low. This forced the households to diversify their livelihoods. But diversification opportunities again are limited and not open to all. The fishers performed worst in this respect. Their livelihoods depend on fishing in a crucial way. If access to fishing grounds is lost they are forced to diversify their livelihoods to avoid starvation. The access of the fishers to fishing grounds has been diminishing over time in the project villages. There are a large number of closed water bodies such as the oxbow lakes. The fishers are losing access to these water bodies because they are now under aquaculture. They have now turned to fish workers hired only for harvesting fish from these water bodies. As a consequence many fishers have taken up new livelihoods that are less rewarding than fishing. These changes occurred before the intervention. The FFP in Dasherhat Chara can be seen as following this trend.
The FMP was not followed. A complete gear ban replaced a proposed gear restriction. The fishing rights of the fishers - subsistence or professional - were taken away for almost the whole year. They were neither rewarded nor compensated. Funds were raised from capital subscription. Those who contributed were rewarded. Participation of the fishers as contributors was very low. Contribution was accepted also from people living outside the project village. Major contribution came from the members of the VDCs and FMCs. The fishers had to undertake less rewarding livelihood strategies. They took employment as casual workers in agricultural and non-agricultural activities. They also moved to marginal fishing grounds in search of fish but overcrowded them in the process. Their women left home for work for wages - an activity never liked by the fishers. Children were under-attended as the women spent more time outside home. Incomes eroded. The fishers had to drop meals. They had to borrow from informal lenders and some had to sell assets.
The performance of the FMC in fish aquaculture was impressive in the first stocking. A ton of fingerlings produced six tons of fish. This dropped to three tons in the second year. Input costs increased and revenue from selling fish declined by a large proportion in the second stocking. This caused a serious concern amongst the fishers and contributors. The credibility and integrity of the members of the FMC was questioned. An alternative FMC was formed. The FMC settled all accounts with the contributors and looked for new subscription. Since the fishers suffered most and benefited least while returns from stocking were low the FFP in Dasherhat Chara has some more groundwork to do. They should try to eliminate the present conflict, include more fishers and try to get the most out of stocking. Otherwise it will turn more fishers to workers who will be only hired for harvesting fish.