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The Control Path of Sustainable Marine Fisheries of Bangladesh

Dr. Mohammed Shamim Uddin Khan
Professor & Corresponding author:
Department of Finance and Banking, University of Chittagong.

Dr. Mohammad Nesarul Karim
Associate Professor
Department of Finance and Banking, University of Chittagong.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Human use of the oceans takes many forms, but one of the most crucial is surely that of marine fisheries, a key source of food and livelihood for millions. Yet fisheries are also among the most complex of human activities and difficult to manage. Sustainable use of oceans clearly is essential for achieving both environmental and economic security. It is also clear that efforts to achieve sustainable use of the oceans must pay attention to fisheries particularly. A series of questions need to address in this respect. Management and surveillance systems are often inappropriate to guarantee sustainable resource utilization since the knowledge on fisheries and/or stocks is limited. Additionally, institutional failure e.g. unsuitable regulatory policies have accelerated resource exploitation in several cases. Bangladesh marine shrimp is important in the context of Bangladesh economy. A large number of coastal populations are engaged in fisheries and allied activities. But due to over-exploitation, this resource might become extinct. We propose a bioeconomic fishery model to understand the problem better. Based on Bangladesh marine shrimp fishery data, we estimate the optimal values with Gordon-Schaefer model for this region. This paper aims at finding out optimal fishing effort and harvest level of Bangladesh marine shrimp fishery using mathematical model for the years 1981-1982 to 2005-2006. We compare the end results (Maximum Economic Yield and related effort and stock levels) from both the static and dynamic models. Results indicate that currently the shrimp capture fishery is exploited in an unsustainable manner.

Keywords: Fishery sustainability, Bioeconomic model, Bangladesh marine shrimp fishery.

Location: In Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Conservation and Biodiversity

Commodity: Marine fish

Objectives:

The main objectives of the study are: (i) To focus the concept of marine fishery sustainability in general and Bangladesh marine shrimp fishery in particular. (ii) To formulate non-linear static and dynamic optimization models of Bangladesh trawl shrimp fishery for sustainable utilization. (iii) To estimate the optimal steady-state solution (i.e. optimal stock, harvest and effort level) through the non-linear static and dynamic optimization models of Bangladesh trawl shrimp fishery.

Methodology:

Data Sources: Due to the unavailability of marine artisanal fishery data, we consider only the industrial (trawl) shrimp fishery of Bangladesh. We have used published data of (i) BOBP (1993; 1997), (ii) Department of Fisheries (DOF, 1999; 2000) and (iii) Marine Fisheries Survey Management Unit Chittagong (MFSMUC, 2007), for the time-series data of harvest and effort for the period 1981-1982 to 2005-2006. Due to the non-availability of time series data on dock-price of commercially exploited trawl shrimp, we have used the published data of Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh (EPBB, 2000) for time series data of exported shrimp price. The data from the sample survey made by Khan and Hoque (2000a) are used for the estimation of cost parameters. For estimated annual biomass stock, intrinsic growth rate, catchability co-efficient and carrying capacity or saturation level, we have used data of Ray and Khan (2003). 4.2. The Model The practice of the management of renewable resources has generally relied on the concept of Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY). The concept of MSY suggests exploiting the surplus production on the basis of biological growth model. Several objections have been raised against the use of MSY on both biological and socioeconomic grounds. One of such serious objections is obviously the non-recognition of cost-factor. Recognition of the inadequacy of MSY concept has resulted in a trend to replace it with a concept of optimal resource management based on criterion of maximization of present values of net economic revenues. We assume that one of the objectives of the shrimp fishery is that it should be managed to maximize the discounted present value of net benefits. In this paper, we have suggested a formulation of non-linear system of Bangladesh trawl shrimp fishery only and rely on the standard fishery bioeconomic models of both static and dynamic types. In the static model the objective is to maximize one period profit of the trawl shrimp fishery whereas in a dynamic model the objective is to maximize present value of all the future profit. Initially we will try to have an optimal solution by applying the classical method of constrained extrema. Obviously, the optimal allocation given by the solution will be static in nature. However, because of the very nature of renewability, it is natural that the growth function of the resource is to be incorporated as one of the constraints in any renewable resource optimization model. Since the problem of such class has always been a dynamic characteristic this static solution can only be viewed as a special case of the formulated dynamic optimization model. Moreover, static solution gives only single optimal value of the decision variables, whereas dynamic optimization solution, if exists and feasible to obtain, gives us optimal values at different point of time over the time horizon (0, T).

Source of Information: Thoughts on Economics; Vol. 21, No. 03

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The paper has combined a conceptual discussion of fishery sustainability with suggestions of practical policy directions for Bangladesh marine shrimp fishery. Key aspects of these themes and a number of corresponding research questions have been highlighted. A set of policy directions to promote sustainability has been described focusing on recognizing at the institutional level, developing feasible management approaches that are effective in practice, adopting precautionary approaches in fishery management, and developing methods for coping with the complexity of fishery systems through multidisciplinary research and coastal development. We have found the optimal control path of Bangladesh marine shrimp fishery, which is not managed and utilized with the sustainability concept. This revelation holds true for both static and dynamic model. The result does not vary significantly for static and dynamic conditions. We have also observed that the actual level of effort is much higher than the optimum level of effort but actual harvest is much lower than the optimum amount of catch that could be exploited if the system is managed optimally. It indicates that the present system is economically inefficient. If the optimum control path that we obtained is followed then the level of effort would be reduced gradually and amount of harvest also would be increased gradually following the optimum harvest path shown in the diagram. This will also ensure to restore the optimal stock of resource from the present sub-optimal level as well as four fundamental components of fishery sustainability (i.e. ecological, socioeconomic, community, and institutional) can be ensured. Management objectives in fisheries are rarely achieved in practice and the debate on adequate strategies is ongoing. Although it is not expected that a unique solution exists, the need for cross-disciplinary analyses taking into account uncertainties still remains. Therefore, much more research is needed, but we hold that the presented methodology opens a promising road towards a better understanding of the intrinsic processes – including ecological, economic and social issues in fisheries. However, we do not claim that this optimal control path is able to capture all of the complexities of the ecological, socio-economic, community, institutional and fish population dynamics, which is perhaps simply not possible, but it certainly provides a useful and easy-to-handle tool in determining optimal harvests and thereby to optimize the resource utilization with a long-run sustainability objective.

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