Fisher’s Capacity Building for Responsible Fisheries in the Bay of Bengal

Abstract

The area of the Bay of Bengal that Bangladesh owns is around the same size as the country. That huge marine water area supports a wide number of biodiversity including 475 species of finfish and 36 species of shrimp. The biodiversity of the Bay of Bengal is under risk of over harvesting. There are laws and legislations regarding the conservation and protection of marine biodiversity. But there is a serious lack of conservation knowledge and practices by the sea going fishers. Capacity building intervention for the sea going fishers are a few. The current paper has assessed and reviewed a capacity building training programme of an NGO in the Cox’s Bazar coast. Using the participatory research tools and questionnaire survey, they compare the knowledge and practice status of the community before the training and after the training. The impact of training to the fisher was found very effective. The study was conducted between November 2021 and February 2023 in four villages of the Teknaf Peninsula. Training brings significant changes in the practice and behavior of fishers. Developing training contents and modules needs to consider the local conservation pressers, traditional practices, and the capacity of law and entitlements. Technological knowledge of safe release back to sea of the accidental catch is a requirement for the fisher community. Attention towards capacity building of fishers by the Government and Non-government was found to be very low. To achieve the country’s target of the blue economy, skill development of the fishers on responsible fisheries is a must.