Agricultural Research Management Information System

Home
Research Summary
Search
About Us
- ARMIS
- Brochure
Contact Us
Report
User Request
Data Input
Help
- Operation Manual
  - PDF
  - Video
- Program Area & Commodity
We have reached 37600 number of research entries at this moment.

- Logout

Research Detail

Home
Research
Detail

Community Based Fisheries Management (cbfm) in Sunamganj District of Bangladesh: the Nature of Cooperation and Conflicts

M. Fakhrul Alam
Department of Social Work, Siddeshwari Girls' College, Dhaka, Bangladesh

T. Kumar Das
Department of Social Work, Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh

M.M. Haque Kazal
Department of Economics, Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

There are altogether 411 haors comprising an area of about 8000 square kilometer, covering 25 per cent of entire region dispersed in the districts of Sunamgonj, Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Hobigonj, Netrokona & Kishoreganj. Sunamganj district is particularly known as a district of haors and baors where a large number of people depend on fishing for their livelihood. Some people are basically fishermen and fish all the year round. Community Based Fisheries Management (CBFM) project has been initiated in this area to develop fishery sector as well as for the development of the inland fishermen of haor area. Healthy cooperation among the beneficiaries of the project is very much present and some NGOs are found working actively there to help the fishermen for the sound implementation of the project. But the influentials of different villages around create troubles and conflicts intentionally in the project area because of which fishermen cannot fish smoothly and the implementation of the project is getting hampered. Therefore, a kind of consensus needs to be reached among the inhabitants of the haor area and a powerful association of the fishermen should be established so that fishing may be undertaken in the beel without having any troubles and conflicts. In this article the conflicts and cooperation that are in existence in the implementation process of

CBFM project in the haor areas of Sunamgonj district have been discussed. Some suggestions have been offered in the paper to overcome the existing conflicts impeding the smooth implementation of CBFM project in the fishery sector of haor area under Sunamganj district.

Keywords: Community based, Fishery management, NGO, Haor, Beel

Location: Sunamganj District, Bangladesh.

Start Date: 00-00-1994

End Date: 00-00-2000

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Commodity: Aquatic animal

Objectives:

To elicit the nature of cooperation and conflict relating to management of fishery in the CBFM project areas and to suggest policies and strategies for sustainable CBFM.

Methodology:

The study is basically a descriptive and diagnostic study. According to the objectives of the study, necessary data have been collected, following descriptive and diagnostic design. On the basis of the analysis of collected data, the study offers suggestions for reducing conflict and accelerating cooperation among fishermen and other people for the sustainability of CBFM system in Sunamganj district. The concept of CBFM: CBFM means Community Based Fisheries Management, a project currently getting implemented in Bangladesh. The first phase of CBFM project during 1994-2000 supported by Ford Foundation grants to the government and non-government partners has already been implemented. CBFM-2 started in September 2001. It is a 5-year project to be implemented by a partnership of Department of Fisheries (DOF) and several NGOs supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) through a grant to the WorldFish Center (WFC). The project has been planned in the true spirit of polycentric approach. DOF, different NGOs, community people and local bodies would collectively give a concerted effort to implement the project. CBFM project aimed at developing a system of shared responsibility between the Government and the local resource users to manage these fisheries. This is a technical assistance project of the DOF working in collaboration with national NGOs and regional NGOs, with technical assistance by WFC. In Sunamganj, the partnership of two NGOs — Efforts for Rural Advancement (ERA) and Sunamgang Jonokalyan Sangstha (SUJAN) have formed Community Based Organizations (CBO) for the management of different haors located in the areas. At the local level CBOs have formed different Beel Management Committee (BMC) for the implementation of CBFM taking the help from the NGOs. The BMC is a body of fishermen selected by the beneficiaries of the project. This body usually takes all the important decisions relating to fishing in haors as well as management of the beels located in the project area. The partners NGOs have been working for providing adult education, training on alternative income generating activities and credit, raising awareness for fishery management problems, and helping the fishers develop institutions and techniques for managing the fisheries. Study area and sources of data: CBFM project is getting implemented in Sunamganj haor area of Sunamganj district in Bangladesh. So the haor areas of Sunamganj (Derai and Bishwamvarpur) have been chosen purposively for the study. The villages nearby the haor/beel where the project is to be implemented are the areas for our proposed study. The beneficiaries particularly the fishermen having related to CBFM project and the villagers of the study areas are considered as population and sources of data. Besides, different stakeholders and community people are treated as key informants for authentic data. The adult persons are interviewed and have been considered as unit of the population. Multi-stage sampling method has been applied for selecting sample size. At first, two geographical areas of Sunamganj, namely Derai and Bishwamvarpur under CBFM project have been selected and then the fishermen/community people involved in CBFM project, other fishermen, fish traders, businessmen of fishery and other villagers have been selected for data collection. To make the sample size truly representative, about 40 per cent of the direct beneficiaries from each bee! have been selected from the villages and data were collected from them. Besides, 10 per cent respondents who are completely non-beneficiaries of the project have been selected from the villages randomly for data collection. It may be mentioned that 10 per cent respondents consist of fishermen not related to CBFM, fish traders and local leaders. The total sample size is 150. To conduct the study both qualitative and quantitative data have been collected by using schedule and other methods of data collection. Survey, Case study, Focus Group. Discussion, Semi-structured Interview and Observation methods have been applied to collect data. Data processing, analysis and interpretation: The collected data have been edited properly and coded for analysis. After checking and rechecking, the schedule has been accepted for processing and analyzing the data. The collected data have been analysed systematically and simple statistical methods such as frequency distribution and average have been used to arrange the data. Both qualitative and quantitative data are analysed and interpreted.

Source of Information: Bangladesh J. Fish. Res., 11(1), 2007: 93-104

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The socio-economic condition of inland fishermen of haor area is not satisfactory. They are living in such areas where there is limited scope of having employment opportunities except farming and fishing. Sometimes the fishermen cannot cultivate rice due to flood and then fishing becomes the only way to survive. Due to the initiation of CBFM project, the fishermen have got fishing rights in heel and they think that if they can fish in haor smoothly without facing conflicts then they would be able to gain more profit from the fishery.

Knowledge Management: Journal