Floodplain Fisheries in Bangladesh
- 1. Floodplain Fisheries in Bangladesh : Bangladesh is endowed by three principal river systems: the rivers Brahmaputra (Jamuna), Ganges (Padma), and Meghna. In the agro-based economy of Bangladesh,fisheries play an important role in nutrition, employment and foreign exchange earnings, contributing 4.37% to GDP, 2.01% to export earning, 60% to animal protein intake, in addition to providing 1.4 million people full time and 11 million part time employment. In 2012- 2013 the total production of fish in Bangladesh was 3.41 million tons. About 82.73% of the fish production (2.82 million tons) comes from the inland fresh water resources and 17.27% from marine resources (0.58 million tons). Inland fisheries resources are broadly classified into inland open waters and inland closed waters which comprises the area of 3.91 million ha and 0.78 million ha contributing fish production over 1.85 million tons (54.54%) and 0.96 million tons (28.19%) respectively. Among the 4.69 million ha of inland open water resources, the major proportion consists of floodplains with an area of 2.8 million ha contributing 0.77 million tons of fish in 20012-13. Seasonal floodplains are water bodies that retain water for 5-6 months during which they are suitable to grow fish and other aquatic animals. Recent studies have revealed that, if 25% of the 2.8 million ha can be brought under community management, calculating 50% to be accessible, then 6.7 million people would be benefited including 2.7 million landless people. Out of 2.8 million ha of medium and deep- flooded areas, about 1.5 million ha are estimated to be suitable for community based fish culture. If 50% of accessible water of these areas is taken under aquaculture and management practices, then annual fish production will be increased 4 to 5 times over the existing production .The floodplains differ largely in
- 2. physical features, size, ownership and location. Previously, irrespective of ownership regimes, most of the floodplains were used as common pool resources for harvest of fish and other aquatic animals and plants during the monsoon. In recent years the demand for floodplain fish production has increased largely due to decreasing trends in capture fish production from the floodplains (DoF, 2005). It was also realized that floodplains offer a high potential for increased production through fish culture during the monsoon. Attempts to bring the floodplains under fish culture to increase production and include the poor in sharing the benefits are surrounded fraught complexities, however. Institutional issues are amongst the most important challenges for achieving success. During the dry season agricultural production dominates, with the main occupation consisting of cropping rice and other commodities for sale and domestic consumption; the boundaries between privately and commonly owned lands are then relatively clear. In the monsoon or wet season, land boundaries in the flooded areas become indistinct, making it difficult in some cases to identify private land owned by individual households. In most cases floodplains are used as a resource for aquatic production (fish and other aquatic animals and plants) with both owners and non-owners having common access. This is beneficial to the livelihoods of many people including poor fishers. However, the open access to these resources and its indiscriminate use resulted in overexploitation and reduction in productivity. Therefore the benefits provided by the system to the people have proven unsustainable. Ownership regimes of the floodplains in Bangladesh are diverse and complex with some floodplains being completely under public ownership, some public but surrounded by private lands, and some under completely private ownership. Floodplains under public ownership are
- 3. normally leased out by the Department of Land (DoL) in auction. Priority is given to registered fishers’ societies, but in most cases it is the moneyed and politically influential people who can afford to pay lease money and take control over the floodplains to use it for fish culture. There are initiatives to bring privately owned floodplains under fish culture by contract between the owners and individual entrepreneurs. Initiatives to bring public and privately owned floodplains under community-based systems with multiple beneficiaries are less common, however. Taking into account the high potential of fish culture in floodplains, initiatives have been taken to benefit more people through increased fish production. One of the first, the Community-Based Fisheries Management (CBFM) program, had a major focus on increasing production through implementing conservation measures such as the establishment of sanctuaries and implementation of harvesting regulations. These were largely carried out in publicly owned floodplains (largely beels) with long-term leases to the community from the Land Department and technical and institutional support from the DOF. The CBFM program resulted in lots of valuable lessons learnt on different aspects, one of which, the development of local level community based organizations (CBOs), proved an important precondition for success.
- 4. Public floodplains : o Leased to fishers – taken up by influential, use for fish culture with increase production and income but limiting access and benefits of the poor - fishers and other users o Not leased - encroachment and land grabbing by private land owners o Some leased to fishers - managing under CBFM program Private floodplains : • CPR in monsoon – over exploitation, very low prod • Fish culture by individual owner/s, companies use as large close systems - increase fish production and income but there is risk of loss of access by poor, adversely affect on biodiversity of natural fisheries Institution : o Weak institution with poor governance o Problem in Leadership, less transparent to members o Less active participation of members
- 5. o Poor linkages with support providers o Due to weak institution some cases public floodplains leased to fishers group are taken up by influential people During the monsoon the Bangladesh floodplain becomes integrated into a single biological productive system. A conservative estimate of the number of freshwater bony fish species present in the system is 273 of which 13 are exotics. Cyprinids, catfishes and hilsa shad Tenualosa ilisha, a clupeid, predominate. About 20–30 fishes, mostly blackfishes, which are resident in the floodplain and tolerant of low levels of oxygen provide the majority of the national freshwater fish production. Most of the rural population fish professionally, seasonally or for subsistence. In addition to the harvesters, a further two million people are involved in activities related to the fisheries sector. The yield in the floodplain may vary from 50 to 400 kg ha−1 per year and the majority of the fishes is eaten fresh. For full-time fishers, conflict over water resources can be intense during the dry season when water is required for irrigation. Flood control, drainage and irrigation schemes may obstruct the lateral migrations of rheophilic whitefish species and the passive drift of larvae from the main channel to the modified floodplains. Existing modifications to the hydrological regimes may cause reductions in catch per unit area and fish biodiversity. The area under flood control is expected to be 5.74×106 ha in 2010 resulting in a loss of ca. 151,300 t of fishes. There has been a move away from the leasing of water estates (‘jalmohals’) to the promotion of co- management. The open access policy, which has led to severe competition for the resources, has reduced the effectiveness of co-management. The future aim is to shift the benefits to the fishers and to ensure the long-term sustainability of the resources.
- 6. Both habitat restoration and fish enhancement are important in sustaining the floodplain fisheries. Annual cycle of events in floodplains: There are three categories of participant in flood plain fishing: professional, seasonal and subsistence, although there is considerable overlap. Professional fishers were traditionally Hindus using larger, costly gears in closed water bodies and rivers. This group has declined and Muslim agriculturists have increasingly become professional fishers Seasonal fishers or part-time fishers fish on the floodplains in the monsoon period when there is, at least theoretically, open access to the fishery. They supplement their fishing income with agricultural work and other non-fishing activities. Their numbers
- 7. have recently increased and they intensively exploit the seasonal floodplain fishery. Subsistence fishers are opportunistic according to floodplain conditions and catch mainly for home consumption using relatively inexpensive, simple gears. This group includes landless labourers, small farmers, women and children.Research on floodplain production has mainly been divided into agriculture or fisheries. There is a general lack of data on fishing effort and the contribution of fishing to incomes in mixed occupationhouseholds in relation to seasonal and hydrological cycles and competing livelihood activities. Even detailed socio-economic studies. have largely or entirely overlooked the contribution of fishing to floodplain livelihoods, other than to state that fishing is practised by professional fishers and is a ‘supplementary occupation for many households’. The Bangladesh Department of Fisheries (DOF) estimated that 73% of all households are involved in floodplain fisheries. found the participation in fishing in agricultural villages (as distinct from fishing villages) to range from 47% in the northwest to 73% in the north-central region. A reciprocal study of involvement of households in fishing communities in agriculture revealed that farming and agricultural labouring were the most important non-fishing activities in a village well endowed with land, but that trade was more important in more perennially flooded areas. In addition to those involved in the harvest sector, the fisheries of Bangladesh provide employment for ca. 2 million people, including fish traders, transporters, packers and other related occupations. The sector also supports lease holders and the water-bailiffs they employ to enforce their propertyrights. In addition, the contribution
- 8. of children to the floodplain fishery is often overlooked, though their fishing, using cheap simple gears such as push and scoop nets, can account for >50% of effort in subsistence fisheries. Development strategies : One unique aspect of community based management approach is its decentralized approach to co-management that focuses on collaboration with local government. Reduction of fishing pressure was likely to be a critical part of reviving floodplain fisheries in Bangladesh. Formation of Community Based Organisations (CBOs) is a crucial task, the failure and success of wetland resource management depends on CBO performance and accountability. A range of actions available to mitigate the impacts of human activities on floodplains. These
- 9. consisted of two essential components, firstly ensuring that flow conditions in the river were sufficient to maintain the floodplain and to fulfill the requirements of the fish and secondly ensuring that the physical structure of the floodplain and its associated rivers was maintained in a condition suitable for fish. Channels connecting floodplain water bodies to the river should be kept open and free of silt and channels those have been sealed or lost should be restored. He also pointed out that the main river channel should be conserved in a healthy state and not over channelized. Connectivity should be maintained with upstream tributaries necessary for movements and breeding of migratory fish species. Technical management: For sustainable management of water bodies and their ecosystems through improved community planning and appropriate management interventions including the establishment of sanctuaries, control of fishing effort, habitat restoration, stocking fingerlings, gear restriction, ban on complete dewatering and other measures are need to be considered. Community based co-management: To ensure sustainable and equitable fisheries, community based co-management will be formalized in water bodies where it has already been established through various projects, expanded to other water bodies. Community based organizations: To provide a formal legal recognition of user rights, community based organizations where fishers have a leading role will be facilitated and organized. The type of community based organization appropriate will vary according to the location, it may be membership based (fishers), an organization representing different stakeholder groups, or a set of volunteers from the community concerned to ensure sustainable fisheries.
- 10. Conclusion: Bangladesh floodplain fisheries are complex, dynamic and valuable. Most of the population exploited rich and productive multi-species assemblages for protein and income on a seasonal basis, complementing their agricultural activities and taking advantageof the natural variations in fish catch ability during the flood cycle. Complex institutional arrangements and access rights largely determine the distribution of benefits among different sectors of society. Whilst catch trends alone cannot always be relied upon to determine the exploitation status of fish stocks, the national catch statistics appear to offer little support to the widespread notion that Bangladesh fisheries are overexploited. With the exception of the main rivers, catches from other sectors (including total inland catches) are, based on the statistics, increasing or remaining relatively stable. The accuracy of the national statistics, however, is questionable, and the results of biological assessments suggest that many stocks exhibit
- 11. extremely low annual survival rates. By combining the catches of many different species in a single ‘other species’ category, the national statistics may also be concealing the extinction of fishes or the effects of ecosystem over-fishing. Hydraulic engineering structures are increasingly forming an integral part of the Bangladesh floodplain environment and economy. Although hydrological modifications within these schemes appear to have little impact on the production potential of individual fish, their levees and embankments can significantly diminish the recruitment to modified floodplains of prized rheophilic whitefish species. The effects are manifest in lower catch per unit area and local species diversity, as well as potentially more extreme-flood-prone main river channels. More subtle effects may have been, and may remain, undetected. It is likely that further flood control schemes will be constructed until it is perceived that further improvements in agricultural output and economic stability no longer outweigh the costs
- 12. of their proven impacts, including those related to fisheries. Faced with limited institutional capacity and resources, and inadequate single species models to guide management decision-making, the Government of Bangladesh is increasingly devolving management responsibility to communities, encouraging a more adaptive and participatory approach on a local scale. This has demanded significant institutional reform, particularly with respect to the transfer of water body ownership and access rights. Most projects are still in their infancy but, so far, the results appear promising. Establishing and ensuring the continuity of these projects, however, is costly in terms of time and resources, and they often fail to resolve the problem of resource access-denial faced by the landless poor during flood recession in the post- monsoon season when fishing activities are most profitable. Therefore, the creation and promotion of alternative livelihood strategies for these groups during this period may, together with further time and resources, be a prerequisite for the sustainable
- 13. co-management of the nation’s fisheries resources. Community management of the inland fisheries of Bangladesh is becoming more common. In closed systems such as permanent water bodies this is much easier to achieve and to spread the benefits to all. The open access policy for most rivers and extensive floodplains, which leads to severe competition for the resource, reduces the potential effectiveness of co-management. Future trends must be towards improving the sustainability of local institutions and developing management systems for the larger fisheries. The government will continue to have a major role in these and it should provide incentives for communities to take the lead in the management and conservation of their local resources. Useful guidelines for the management of the floodplain river fisheries have been given by Hoggarth et al. (1999b). They suggest that effective management requires a holistic and multi-disciplinary approach. The extensive variability in the ecological and social characteristics of the floodplain fisheries
- 14. as outlined in the present paper indicates that management must be flexible and appropriate to meet local needs. The majority of those who make a living on the floodplains depend on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial production. Research requirements include the need to quantify the competition for surface water between agriculture and fishing in relation to the projected expansion of irrigated cropping. The fisheries are very valuable but they are also very vulnerable and their sustainable exploitation requires co-operation between all users of the river floodplain ecosystem. References : 1.Fao.org 2. The Bangladesh floodplain fisheries by J.F. Craig, A.S. Halls, J.J.F. Barr, C.W. Bean 3. http://www.academia.edu/29044612/The_Bangladesh _floodplain_fisheries 4. Worldfishcenter.org