The Performance-Evaluation of Fisheries Sector of Bangladesh

View with images and charts

The Performance-Evaluation of Fisheries Sector of Bangladesh

1.1 Introduction :

Bangladesh is an agrarian country. Among of the South Asian Countries, It enjoys a very favourable climatic condition for fisheries. Being situated in the deltaic plain of 3 major river systems of the sub-continent – the Ganges, the Jamuna, and the Meghna – it is relatively rich in water resources. Monsoon rains and floods create favourable conditions for fisheries though floods sometimes bring miseries to people.

Fisheries is a non-crop sub-sector of the Agriculture. It plays a very important role in our economy and other socio-economic conditions. It contributes about 22.23% in agricultural sector and 3.74% to national GDP. It contributes about 2.70% to the total foreign exchange earning, provides full time job to 1.4 million professional fishermen, and about 10% of the total labour force, this way or other, is connect with fisheries.

Fisheries provide about 58% of animal protein in our daily diet. Rural people prefer fish to meat because of its local and easy availability, and also for its low costs.

The whole of the fisheries sector employs about 1.20 million people who are directly or indirectly dependent on fishing, fish farming, fish processing etc. This figure is about 10% of the total population of the country. Out of the total about 7.70 lakh are inland fishermen for whole time fishing or subsistence fishing, 5.10 lakh are marine fishermen, about 5000-6000 are in the processing industry (both regular and casual) and about 11.55 lakh in shrimp farming, fry, collection, crab and frog collection, dry and dehydrated fish industry and in fish carrier boats.

1.2 Statement of the Problem:

Bangladesh is an agro based reverie country. But it has large population with limited resources. It must be explored how the existing resources including fisheries production and contribution to be modified. For this reason I try my best to reveal the performance-evaluation of fisheries in our economy. Because we should keep in mind that fisheries sector still offers scope for increased production, employment and income generation. Invest in fisheries means investment for the poor and investment for the development of Bangladesh.

1.3 Objectives of the Study:

i. To know about area of inland water resource of Bangladesh.

ii. To explore the scenario of fish resources in Bangladesh.

iii. To know about provides animal protein in our daily life.

iv. Contribution of fisheries sector in GDP.

v. The total employment of rural people in fisheries sector.

vi. Income from the fisheries sector.

vii. To improve productivity of fisheries.

viii. To improve the quality of fisheries.

ix. To improve disease resistance variety.

x. To impress fish quality as expected for marketing.

2. Fisheries Resources & Potentials, Inland & Marine Fisheries, Aquaculture, Various Fishes & Fishing System.

2.1 The Scenario of Fisheries Resources and Their Potentials :

Fisheries of Bangladesh consists of (i) Inland Open Water Fisheries – river and river estuaries, flood plains, beel and haors, Kaptai reservoir, (ii) Closed Water Fisheries – ponds, oxbow lakes or baors, brackish water (shrimp farms) and (iii) Marine Fisheries. Categories’ of fisheries resources (Figure-1) are shown below :

A. Inland Open Water Fisheries:

i) Rivers and river estuaries

ii) Flood Plains

iii) Beel and haors

iv) Kaptai reservoir.

B. Closed Water Fisheries:

i) Ponds

ii) Ox-bow lakes or baurs

iii) Brackish Water (Shrimp farms)

C. Marine water:

i) Coastline 480 km.

ii) Exclusive Economic Zone (200 miles)

Production of inland water fish has fallen sharply. In the early seventies about 75% of total fish catch used to come from inland water which has now come to 49% (5.7 lac m. ton). Culture of fish in ponds, on the other hand, has shown some upward trend, and there is scope for further increase in this area. Production of marine fisheries has also shown some rise in production. Marinecatch, though now accounts for 25% of total catch, still there is a big prospect of further production increase. Source-wise fish production of the country.

Figure -1: Category wise Fisheries Resources.

Source DOF * of total water area.

The major portion of fisheries resources are marine fisheries about 79% of total water area. Though in the earlier Inland Closed water fisheries were the major due to many natural and social hazardous, it is now radically dropped or fallen. Fisheries resources of flood plains in Inland Open water is 65% higher than others water area.

The total fish production of inland water by district of Bangladesh is also illustrated with following map :

According to the FRSS report, the large amount of fish production area are Narayangonj, Comilla and Chittagong. It also right that large area of Bangladesh are empty of fish production in large amount, but the good thing is most of the district are resourceful with production.

Now we will see the district and Division-wise annual total production of inland water, 2009-10.

According to the above Figure, we see that Comilla district is in highest position in production of inland water fishes. Whereas, Chuadanga district is in lowest position. We also see that Dhaka Division is in highest position in production of inland water fishes and Chittagong division is in second highest position in production of inland water fishes. On the other hand , Sylhet division is in lowest position in production of inland water fishes.

2.2 Inland Capture Fisheries :

This sub-sector is made up of large, medium and small floodplains, lakes, beels, and rivers. Developmental issues in this sub-sector include environmental and habitat degradation; lack of good information about the ecology, biology, migration routes, and breeding habits of fish; water pollution; overfishing; inadequate institutional incentives to integrate fisheries into water management in flood control and road projects; access to and management of a common property resource; conflicts between fish and crop production; and cost recovery for public expenditure. The major environmental threat to inland capture fisheries is considered to be the flood control, water management, and road embankments. There are inadequate institutional arrangements and commitment to integrate fisheries into the planning and operation of these projects. The present expansion of aquaculture and culture-based techniques to increase fish production, have compensated for some loss in production. These measures do not fully alleviate the problems of subsistence part-time fishermen, who have traditionally been able to provide fish (often the only source of protein, essential minerals, and vitamins) for their families through open access fishing from the declining resources of floodplain fisheries. Stocking floodplains with fingerlings, combined with improved fisheries management, has proved to be an effective mitigation measure, but the sustainability of such initiatives depends on the existence of effective cost sharing/recovery mechanisms. Also, recent results from a study on fish passes through water control embankments have shown cost effective impact on fisheries and positive impacts on biodiversity.

2.3 Inland Freshwater Aquaculture :

Many ponds and some ox-bow lakes have not been brought under aquaculture. Some of the constraints are biological or technological while others are cultural, sociopolitical or legal. Some ponds may not be suitable for aquaculture (suitability depends on soil type, weather conditions, size, depth and water holding capacity). Tenurial/ownership problems also constrain the development of some ponds. The problems include multiple ownership of ponds, other uses of pond water, inability of close supervision of pond activities, and ineffectiveness of the extension system. The current system of leasing public water bodies does not provide incentives for efficient management of the recourses. There are also problems * of inadequate security and poaching, and various types of pollution from urbanization, industrialization, and intensification in aquaculture. ,

2.4 Shrimp and Brackish Water Aquaculture :

Shrimp farming raises many environmental, biodiversity, and social issues. The issues include conflicts between shrimp and rice cultivation; occasional violent conflicts over land tenure and use rights; encroachment on mangrove forests; loss of biodiversity due to seed collection; exploitation of poor small rice farmers by rich and powerful shrimp farmers; shortage of quality seed; negative impact on the natural stocks of shrimp and fish in the long run; non-existence of quality control procedures for screening imported post larvae for diseases; choice of technology; outbreak of shrimp diseases; and cost recovery. In coastal areas, brackish water needed for shrimp cultivation, if not properly ‘separated from neighboring fields, can pollute adjacent paddy fields and degrade the soils, making them in some cases unfit for crop production and setting up conflicts between shrimp and rice cultivation. Since shrimp production is very profitable and private profitability is higher than social profitability, the beneficiaries should be able to meet both capital investment and 0 &M costs in full. Given the consequences of recent serious shrimp disease outbreaks, and the rapidly changing shrimp technology, there is a need for constant update of knowledge and for changing of technological and organizational recommendations. There is a need to formulate coastal land use policy, which may involve classifying and demarcating lands based on their tidal inundation, soil qualities, water salinities, and existing regulations (e.g., in the case of mangroves) into various zones for extension purposes and guidance in order to avoid environmental degradation and social conflicts.

2.5 Marine Fisheries :

There is limited knowledge about the marine fisheries sub-sector. For example, there is inadequate knowledge about the stock of fish, fish habitats, fish behavior, and sustainable yields. Large post harvest losses are reported due to inadequate landing and processing facilities. The economics of sustainability of collecting “trash” fish and using them for human consumption or as fish meal for animal feed have not been determined. The sub-sector is also constrained by lack of proper management policy for the conservation of the resources. There are gear and area conflicts between artisanal and industrial fishermen. There are also reports of sea piracy.

However, Now we will observe the total production and area productivity’s by sector of fisheries for July, 2009-June, 2010.

According to the figure, first column shows various sector of fisheries, second column shows water area ( in hector), third column shows total catch of fish (in metric ton) and the last column shows catch/area (in kg/hector). It is easily realize that though the above figure, total catch of inland fisheries is 21,86,726 (metric ton) which is more than marine fisheries.

This production is also illustrated by the following pie-chart:

The above chart shows that the total catch of inland fisheries is more than marine fisheries. The production of fish according to the sector of fisheries capture and culture is almost same/ near about that is 42% and 39% respectively in inland areas. In Marine fisheries production is 19% and most of them are artisanal Fisheries. The sum total of catching fisheries in our country is 27,01,370 (metric ton), according to the sector of fisheries.

2.6 List of fishes in Bangladesh:

Bangladesh is a country with hundreds of rivers and ponds and is notable for being a fish-loving nation, acquiring the name “Machh-e Bhat-e Bangali” which means, “Bengali by fish and rice”.

Ilish is the national fish of the country where it contributes 13% of country’s total fish production. Fish are caught both from natural resources and by farming in self-made ponds.