Livelihood impacts of community based management : experience from flood plain fisheries in Bangladesh

This paper presents the impact of community Based Fisheries Management Organizations (CBO) on fishing households’ welfare and their livelihood in Bangladesh. During 1995 to 2006 the CBFM project established local fishery CBOs by providing credit, facilities, training and promoting social awareness with an aim to enhance poor fishers’ capability of greater access to their livelihood. This paper describes the results from a survey of 2,826 household in 40 water bodies. The study found that fisher’s income from fishing did not raise significantly in project open beel sites and sites and fell in closed bell sites. In contrast a clear improvement was demonstrated in fisher’s income from fishing in river and floodplain sites. This indicates that it is difficult to determine the outcome of CBFM due to the variability between the resource systems and the communities. This study shows that the household in the project areas were found to be more cooperative, more aware of fisheries rules and regulations and were able to resolve conflict due to project interventions. The results suggest that the success of community based interventions mainly depends on the particular content. It conclude that future community based interventions need to give priority to flexible management approach and follow the context specific guidelines rather than applying a fixed approach. The roles of partner NGOs and government should be well defined for future sustainability based institutions in inland fisheries of Bangladesh.

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