1. Strengthening marine fisheries resources management in Bangladesh
2. Establishment of Fish Sanctuaries and Ban on Fishing for Juvenile Fish (Hilsa jatka)
3. Strengthening of Commercial and Specialized Financial Institutions and NGOs in Bangladesh to Enable them to Provide Credit to the Fisheries Sector
4. Strengthening of the Fishery Extension Service of the Department of Fisheries, Bangladesh
1. BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE
2. OBJECTIVES
3. ACTIVITIES
4. WORKPLAN
5. DONOR INPUTS
6. GOVERNMENT INPUTS
7. BUDGET
by Masamichi Hotta, Senior Fishery Planning Officer, FAO, Rome, Italy.
PROJECT PROPOSAL FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
|
Project Title: |
Strengthening Marine Fisheries Resources Management in Bangladesh |
|
Implementing Agency: |
The Bay of Bengal Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |
|
Project Sites: |
Chittagong |
|
Project Duration: |
May 1996 |
|
Government Contribution: |
To be determined |
|
Donor Contribution: |
US $ 744,000 |
In Bangladesh, fisheries plays an important role in nutrition, employment and foreign exchange earnings. This subsector contributes 4.7 per cent to the GDP, about 80 per cent to the nation's animal protein intake and some 12 per cent to the total export earnings. Fisheries provide employment to about two million people in the primary production sector and 11 million people in fishery-related subsectors such as marketing, processing and boat construction.
Whilst fish production has made a steady increase during the last decade, reaching over one million tonnes in 1994, the rate of production increase has not kept pace with that of population growth. As a result, per capita consumption of fish has fallen from 11.7 kg per annum in 1972 to 7.2 kg in 1993. Even to maintain the present level of consumption, which is much lower than the world average of 13 kg per person, per year, fish production will have to be substantially increased to keep up with the population growth of over 2.5 per cent per year.
Marine fisheries have contributed to maintaining fish supplies by offsetting the decline in catches of the inland fisheries sector. The share of marine fisheries in total national landings has risen from 10.6 per cent in 1970 to 28.1 per cent in 1993. There has been, however, tremendous pressure on this fishery from subsistence fishery operators. The total area of the continental shelf, down to 200 metres, is estimated at 67,000 square kilometres, of which an estimated 37,000 square kilometres are of less than 40 metres depth. The area is exploited by the country's small-scale fleet composed of some 17,000 boats of different sizes, 6000 of which are reported to be motorized. Around 95 per cent of the marine fish catches are by artisanal fishermen and the remaining 5 per cent by the industrial trawlers.
Industrial trawl boats are not permitted to operate in waters of less than 40 metres depth, but they often encroach in shallow waters. Since the gear is not selective, trawl operations in shallow waters cause damage to the resources of juvenile shrimp and finfish. This causes imbalance in the food chain and the overall ecology of marine habitats.
Other threats to coastal resources are the large quantities of pollutants discharged from land industries and the effluents of city sewage and agro-chemicals. Increase in the rate of mortality of the post-larvae and juveniles of shrimp and finfish in nursery grounds has been reported.
The marine fishery sector is constrained by lack of a proper management policy for the conservation of marine fishery resources. The Fisheries Ordinance 1983, which makes provisions for the management, conservation and development of marine fisheries, is applicable only to waters of more than 40 metres depth. This leaves the bulk of the activities conducted by artisanal fishermen in inshore waters outside the scope of this legislation. However, the Department of Fisheries has recently introduced a licensing system for mechanized boats. Because the Marine Wing of the DOF does not have sufficient staff and offices at the thana level in coastal areas, the licensing system is at present implemented only in Chittagong and its vicinity. The DOF intends to expand the geographical coverage to other regions of the country gradually.
The Marine Wing of the Department of Fisheries is responsible for fishery management planning and implementation. The Marine Wing is located in Dhaka and Chittagong. The Dhaka office undertakes the responsibility for the management policy formulation and planning, while the Chittagong office is responsible for data collection, stock assessment, management studies, implementation and enforcement. Various studies have been carried out on the socioeconomic and biological impacts of the estuarine set bagnet (ESBN), pushnet and driftnet, which are considered destructive gear. However, in-depth studies are still required to identify the quantum of damage, establish strategic plans, and design management measures for these gear.
The development objectives are:
- to ensure socioeconomic benefits for disadvantaged smallscale fishermen who depend upon inshore resources, and- to plan for long-term conservation and management of the marine and estuarine ecosystem and resources.
The immediate objectives are:
- to produce a profile of the coastal fishing communities as a basis for resource management planning and implementation.- to strengthen the Marine Wing of the Department of Fisheries in respect of data collection and analysis, creating a database, evaluating fishery resource potentials, formulating of mangement plans and enforcing mangement measures.
- To design and initiate management measures for destructive gear, such as ESBN, large mesh driftnet and others.
A team of international experts and national consultants will carry out the following activities:
- Prepare a profile of the selected coastal communities which will provide information on the present state of exploitation, resource potentials, socioeconomic conditions, resource use practices, conflicts among resource users, biophysical environment, fishery and social infrastructure facilities, etc.- Formulate, on the basis of valid scientific information and stakeholder analysis, management measures aimed at withdrawal of the ESBN fishery.
- Establish strategies and plans to identify alternative employment opportunities for displaced fishermen inside and outside the fishery sector (e.g. bottom longline and trammelnet).
- Strengthen fishery statistics collection systems, including a review of the present sampling framework and establishment of a database.
- Conduct biological and socioeconomic studies on the pushnet fishery.
- Implement human resource development programmes to strengthen the Marine Wing of the DOF by arranging training courses, workshops and study tours to improve national capabilities in statistics collection and analysis, stock assessment, and formulating management measures. The existing extension network is to be fully utilized to disseminate relevant information and knowledge to target beneficiaries in order to make them aware of management and environment issues.
- Strengthen the Marine Fisheries Resources Survey Unit (FRSU) in respect of sampling procedures, assessment of fisheries resources, their status and potential, dissemination of the information and data in a form suitable for use in planning, designing and executing of the fisheries development and management programmes.
- Design the reorganization of the Marine Fisheries Enforcement Unit of the Marine Wing based in Chittagong to accommodate enforcement functions for inshore fisheries.
The duration of the Project will be three years and the Project headquarters will be located in the office of the Marine Wing based in Chittagong. The Fisheries Research Institute (FRI) and the Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation (BFDC) will be the collaborating agencies.
The Project will be operated under the umbrella of the Bay of Bengal Programme (BOBP). The Project will be headed by an externally recruited Team Leader (Fisheries Management) for the first year. The Team Leader will work in close consultation with the National Project Director who will be assigned by the government. From the second year onwards, the project will be implemented by the National Project Director under the guidance of the BOBP.
The Project will institute consultations with the local authorities to prepare detailed project activities and a timeframe, coordination mechanisms and other matters concerned with project implementation.
There is need to involve resource-users in the development and management planning process to ensure integration of bottom-up approaches in the Project. It is essential, therefore, to include representatives of community organizations and NGOs in the Steering Committee to be formed for the monitoring and supervision of the Project activities.
Guidelines for preparing a profile of fishing communities and conducting in-depth studies
- Collect socioeconomic data (e.g. family structure, incomes, subsidiary occupations, educational attainment, mobility, marketing, access to credit, gender-specific social and economic roles).- Prepare an inventory of craft and gear (e.g. types and number of gear, boats, equipment), fishing seasons, fishing grounds, etc.
- Examine relevant legislation and institutions (e.g. existing laws, regulations, local management rules, etc.).
- Prepare profiles of community organizations, NGOs etc. and an inventory of target groups.
- Conduct subsectoral analysis on assessments of the environmental impacts of various coastal activities, such as mangrove deforestation and water management in reserved forests, in order to make recommendations for the improvement of degraded coastal zones and environments.
- Plan and implement gradual withdrawal of the Estuarine Set Bagnet (ESBN). As a first step, area and seasonal closures to be planned during the peak recruitment period of penaeid shrimp, i.e. July to September and February to April, at Cox's Bazar.
- Design and pilot test an information system for catch and effort assessment, stock assessment and monitoring for management purposes.
- Hold workshops to discuss the profiles compiled, the findings of in-depth studies, management plans designed for the ESBN and relocation programmes for the displaced fishermen (it is estimated that around 50,000 fishermen are engaged in this fishery).
International experts
Team Leader (Fisheries Management) 12 m/m
Stock assessment 12 m/m
National consultants
|
(a) National coordinator * (Fisheries management) |
24 m/m |
|
(b) Stock assessment |
36 m/m |
|
(c) Socioeconomics |
24 m/m |
|
(d) Legislation |
12 m/m |
|
(e) Community development |
6 m/m |
* National Project Director on deputation from the DOF. Provision will be made for the following components:
|
Travel: |
Official travel by project staff within the country. |
|
Contracts: |
Several contracts to be issued for conducting in-depth studies and compilation of profiles of fishing communities. |
|
Equipment: |
Provision to be made for purchase of a vehicle, computer/printer and photocopying machine. |
|
General The budget to include project operation costs. |
|
|
operating expenses: |
|
|
Training: |
Costs involved in organizing workshops of various disciplines. |
Details of government inputs will be worked out at a later stage. The government will ensure that counterpart staff will be provided on a full-time basis to assist the Project in the fields of stock assessment, statistics, fisheries management, socioeconomics and extension training.
|
International experts |
|
US $ |
|
Team Leader (Fisheries Management) |
12 m/m |
180,000 |
|
Stock assessment |
12 m/m |
120,000 |
|
National expert consultants |
|
|
|
National Coordinator(Fisheries Management) |
24 m/m |
48,000 |
|
Stock assessment |
36 m/m |
72,000 |
|
Socioeconomics |
24 m/m |
48,000 |
|
Legislation |
12 m/m |
24,000 |
|
Community development |
6 m/m |
12,000 |
|
Travel |
|
15,000 |
|
Contracts |
|
20,000 |
|
Equipment |
|
150,000 |
|
General operating expenses |
|
15,000 |
|
Training |
|
40,000 |
|
Grand total |
|
744,000 |
1. INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE
2. DESCRIPTION OF FISHERIES AND PROBLEMS
3. REVIEW AND EVALUATION OF PAST EXPERIENCE
4. SITUATION ANALYSIS AND NEEDS ASSESSMENT
5. POLICY DIALOGUE
6. FISH SANCTUARIES AND BIORESERVES
7. OBJECTIVES, STRATEGY AND PROGRAMMES
8. INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK AND CAPACITY CONSTRAINTS
9. ROLE OF EXTERNAL COOPERATION
10. PROGRAMME SUPPORT ELEMENTS
11. NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
12. OUTPUTS
13. ACTIVITIES
14. INPUTS
15. RISK AND ASSUMPTIONS
16. MONITORING AND EVALUATION
17. ESTIMATED PROJECT COSTS
18. RESPONSIBILITY FOR DETAILED PROJECT PREPARATION
by Kee-Chai Chong, BOBP, Chennai, India
|
Implementing Agency: |
BOBP of FAO/UN |
|
Project Locations: |
To be determined |
|
Project Duration: |
Five years (Phase I) |
|
Estimated Starting Date: |
January 1997 |
|
GoB Contribution: |
US $ 150,000 |
|
Donor Contribution: |
US $ 1 million |
A TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE (TA) PROPOSAL
Bangladesh has carried out extensive water and land remodelling efforts which have drastically changed the country's water- and landscapes. The remodelling efforts are necessary to mitigate the destructive forces of voluminous water. But they alter and modify the natural wild habitats and ecosystems of the terrestrial and aquatic fauna and flora. To minimise any adverse impact arising from water and land remodelling activities, bioreserves and sanctuaries are clearly called for to protect and conserve these ecosystems and habitats and the living resources they contain.
Past economic, agricultural and industrial development in harnessing natural resources, in general, and fisheries development, in particular, have overlooked the importance and necessity of resource conservation and management. In addition, it was still thought to be a luxury to be concerned with such matters in the face of widespread poverty and hunger and the more pressing need to meet the basic needs of a rapidly spiralling population.
Further, the conservation and management of natural resources has also steadily been taken over and concentrated in the hands of Government. In the past, such functions, responsibilities and authorities were vested in the hands of the chieftain or community head, such community-based management systems having evolved at the local or grassroots level. The community, under the supervision and direction of the community leader, was actively involved in the management of the resources they relied on for sustenance and livelihood security. Such functions, responsibilities and authority, however, slowly changed hands and are now vested with Government.
In forestry and agriculture, forest reserves and land reservations were established long ago simply to protect and conserve these resources from human encroachment and kept them in virgin condition for future use. Agricultural zoning was likewise introduced to allocate use of land resources according to land use capability. However, for fisheries, such practices as bioreserves and sanctuaries were not employed as resource conservation and protection measures.
There is considerable overfishing of broodstock, mainly of major carp species, especially during the low water level in the winter/summer months and while they are in their spawning grounds, because they congregate together. As a result, they are more vulnerable to fishing effort. The high mortality of the broodstock, before they have a chance to spawn, reduces their abundance in the succeeding year, thereby reducing recruitment and, thus, overall production. In some cases, this has contributed locally to the near extinction of certain species. There is, thus, an urgent need to protect the broodstock of these major carp by establishing fish sanctuaries and bioreserves in the breeding and spawning grounds.
The hilsa fishery is also of strategic importance to Bangladesh's food supply, as this single species contributes a third of the country's total fish production. Currently, there is massive harvesting of juvenile Hilsa, or Jatka, while they are migrating down rivers to the sea in February-May each year. If these juveniles are allowed to mature, at least to first breeding, the total catch of adult Hilsa could be expected to increase. There is thus an urgent need to impose a complete ban on jatka fishing in the major riverine downstream migration routes from February to May.
In the area of environment and natural resources management, reviews have been undertaken of Flood Control Drainage/Irrigation (FCD/I) impacts on fisheries, by the Master Plan Organization (MPO), Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), with the support of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). More recently, reviews have been undertaken by several of the 26 Flood Action Plan (FAP) projects. The general conclusion has been that the FCD/I structures and their operations have had a negative effect on the floodplain fisheries of Bangladesh through interference in fish life cycles and contraction of the flooded hectarage because specific fisheries criteria have not been incorporated into the projects at the design stage. As a result, the natural recruitment of the floodplain fisheries has been adversely curtailed.
FCD/I projects have, in turn, led to massive floodplain deforestation due to clearing of land for rice monoculture. A review of water quality problems, caused by pesticides, agricultural and industrial effluents and municipal sewage, was carried out by BCAS/IUCN. The review identified severe problems which were not being effectively addressed by the GOB programmes.
A review of the New Fisheries Management Policy (NFMP) was carried out by BCAS with Ford Foundation support. The review indicated that NFMP had positive impacts and was successful in meeting most of its objectives.
Both the MPO and FAP have carried out (or are currently carrying out) situation analysis and needs assessment in the area of environmental protection and natural resources management. The planning processes in the 26 FAPs have not yet been completed, so it would be premature to present their results at this juncture. However, it would seem safe to predict that there will be a strong recommendation that a major reorientation of FCD/I projects will be needed to include fisheries criteria, both in the modification of existing FCD/I projects and in the design of planned FCD/I projects, particularly in the construction and installation of fish-unfriendly structures. Complete needs assessment of other environmental resource-impairing problems identified (floodplain deforestation, pesticides, industrial effluent, municipal sewage) have not been carried out.
The international donor community, in particular the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has played a major role in supporting and coordinating the FAP programme, but not in the other four environmental issues identified. In the inland fisheries subsector, UNDP support has focused on general institutional capacity-building and strengthening of the DOF (although this has not focused on fisheries management per se) and on massive floodplain stocking (a programme which is both experimental and untested, as well as controversial in some of its aspects).
The international donor community has played little or no role in supporting the implementation of the New Fisheries Management Policy (NFMP), or any other programmes in conventional fisheries management. They have largely contracted their intervention in capital infrastructure investments (hardware) relative to management (software).
The establishment of fish sanctuaries and bioreserves as well as the participatory/consultative enforcement of a phase-by-phase ban on fishing for jatka and other juvenile fish of economical or commercial importance will go a long way toward sustaining the fisheries in Bangladesh. Under the proposed scheme of participatory/consultative management of such fisheries, the fishing communities and other stakeholders are brought into the decision-making processes to determine the structure and mechanisms of the management regime.
In the areas of environment and natural resource management, the GOB objectives, as described in the Fifth Five-Year Plan, are:
- To enhance fish production and management techniques and methods.- To improve general environment and public health.
The major policies and strategies being adopted by the GOB to achieve these objectives are:
- Biological management of jalmahals, by providing fishing rights to genuine fishers and replacement of the existing leasing system.
- Largescale stocking of inland open waters inundating floodplains, with rigid enforcement of fish and fish habitat conservation practices.
- An integrated community-based development and management approach for artisanal fisheries, providing improvements in technology, processing, marketing and distribution facilities.
- Formulation and implementation of a well-defined land/water-use policy which will avoid wasteful multiresource use conflicts, introduce effective measures against dumping of industrial and other wastes into the open water system, and ban the use of agricultural biocides of long residual effects.
A comprehensive national programme for environment and natural resource management for the fisheries sector, fully integrated with other relevant economic sectors, does not exist at present. Various aspects of such a programme are being produced by the FAPs and a number of initiatives have been taken by the DOF and other agencies. It is suggested that a national multisectoral programme be prepared to tackle such multisectoral development and management complexity.
In the area of environment and natural resource management, an important institutional constraint is the redefinition of roles, functions and responsibilities of some GOB agencies. Their current roles and responsibilities are targeted more toward revenue collection and uni-sectoral control, while there may be a need to shift the emphasis towards relaxation of revenue collection, from the economically weaker and the poorer segments of society, and increasing technical support.
External support for the environmental and natural resource management, being addressed by the (FAP), is derived from different multilateral and bilateral sources. Other identified environmental and natural resource management issues, such as institutionalising management reforms, have not received adequate external support. Government of Bangladesh resources are hardly adequate to begin to address such issues. External support is still required for such intervention. A possible source of assistance is from the Global Environmental Fund (GEF).
The development objective is the rehabilitation and enhancement of living aquatic and fisheries environments in Bangladesh and the conservation and protection of natural fish stocks. These objectives are in line with the stated objectives of the Fifth Five-Year Plan. The proposed programmes would strengthen the DOFs capacity to both carry out fisheries management and to support community-based management carried out by the fishing communities and stakeholders. It would also initiate collaboration between various ministries (specifically, the Ministries of Water, Land and Forestry) involved with the maintenance and repair of environmental quality and ensure that these ministries incorporate fisheries criteria into their development planning.
Fish sanctuaries project Under the proposed fish sanctuaries project, the immediate objectives are as follows:
- Identify key locations of all major critical broodstock, particularly their wintering and breeding/spawning sites.- Devise appropriate structural measures to reduce fishing effort to an acceptable level, and/or eliminate it entirely, if feasible, in fish sanctuaries.
- Educate the local fishing communities as to the need for, and benefits of, the establishment of fish sanctuaries/bioreserves, and devise non-structural measures based on community participation and management to protect and conserve fisheries resources in the fish sanctuaries/bioreserves, supported by DOF surveillance.
- Formulate an operational plan and implement it.
The jatka project
Under the proposed jatka fishing ban project, the immediate objectives are as follows:
- Establish, through field surveys, the downstream migration patterns of juvenile Hilsa and the characteristics and level of fishing mortality inflicted upon them.- Educate the local fishing communities as to the need for, and benefits of, the establishment of a phase-by-phase ban on jatka fishing and devise non-structural measures based on community participation and management to enforce the ban.
- Support community-based participation in the jatka ban with DOF enforcement capability, based on a monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) programme for all major rivers and important secondary rivers during the jatka season.
Fish sanctuary project
The expected outputs of the fish sanctuaries and bioreserves projects would include a comprehensive geographical information base on all major critical broodstock's wintering and breeding sites. Effective structural measures (DOF-protected katha, concrete and metal gear-fouling structures) would be constructed to act as 'sleeping fish guards' in the declared sanctuary/bioreserve areas. Successful empowerment of local fishers and stakeholders with tenure to protect the broodstocks would enhance the effectiveness of structural measures, as would the support of community-based management by DOF surveillance using trained fish guards.
The jatka project
The expected outputs of the jatka fishing ban project are a comprehensive report on the migration pattern of jatka and a tactical information base on the deployment of fishing gear-fouling structures in all large and important secondary rivers. Awareness-building among all fishers and stakeholders could result in their acceptance of the ban and inclusion in the DOF MCS efforts. The DOF would operate its own MCS system to enforce the jatka ban.
Fish sanctuaries project
To achieve the objectives of the fish sanctuaries and bioreserves programme, the Department of Fisheries (DOF) would need to establish a planning- and management-dedicated unit to carry out the necessary field studies to identify all possible localities (breeding and spawning grounds) requiring sanctuary status. In order to win their support and participation, rural fishers would have to be educated as to the need, purpose and benefits they would derive from the establishment and enforcement of the sanctuaries. Pilot projects would need to be carried out to test the effectiveness of different structural measures and their patterns of deployment. The DOF fish guards would need to be trained to carry out monitoring and surveillance activities and to assist the local fishing communities in enforcement.
The jatka project
The jatka fishing ban project activity would require a comprehensive field study over several jatka seasons (February to May) to collect the required information on jatka migration and fishing effort. Considerable historical data collected by the Bangladesh Fisheries Resources Survey (BFRSS), Fisheries Research Institute (FRI) and experienced DOF field officers should also be collated and analyzed to add a historic dimension to the database. An education programme should be carried out to educate jatka fishers as to the need for the ban and the greater benefit they can expect in harvesting adult Hilsa. A process for incorporating fishers and other stakeholders into a DOF-operated Hilsa jatka MCS system should be developed. The DOF should be equipped with appropriate and sufficient speedboats to carry out effective and comprehensive MCS activities, including enforcement of the fishing ban during the jatka season.
Specific activities
More specifically, the activities should include the following:
AWARENESS BUILDING IN INDUCING BEHAVIOURAL CHANGES
A sustained, comprehensive awareness-building campaign and educational programme should be carried out among all possible stakeholders in the concerned fisheries to create and build awareness and educate them on the need, value as well as benefits of fish sanctuaries or bioreserves, including techniques and methods of sanctuary operations and management. This activity will reach down to the school level, including rural youths, employed or unemployed. In this connection, appropriate revision of school curriculum will be made, subject to the local situation and requirements.
The entire fish marketing chain, from the fisherfolk to the final consumers, will be addressed along these lines, because educating fisherfolk alone will not be effective so long as housewives and consumers are willing to buy and pay for undersized or juvenile fish. Similarly, the middlepersons who market and distribute such fish have to be made aware that they should not promote the sale of such fish. Both the middlepersons and consumers, by their willingness to buy undersized fish, are giving fisherfolk the incentive to continue catching undersized fish.
SETTING UP NATIONAL, THANA, UNION AND DIVISION MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES.
A multi-tiered system of sanctuary operation and management mechanism is needed to encourage a participatory and consultative community-based management system.
BAN ON FISHING OF JUVENILE FISH
As the jatka fishing season lasts from February to May each year, a ban should be imposed on such fisheries during its run. In the initial stage, the ban will cover only jatka fishing. As experience and lessons are accumulated from the ban on jatka fishing, a ban can be extended to other commercially important species.
International donor inputs required for the fish sanctuaries programme would include equipment to carry out field studies, re-engineering and water/land re-modelling design, and development of fishing gear-fouling structures, awareness-building education programmes in both rural and urban areas, training of fish guards and provision of patrol speedboats. A nationwide programme is projected to cost US $ 600,000.
Inputs required for the jatka fishing ban project would include equipment to carry out field studies, awareness-building education programmes in rural and urban areas, and provision of patrol speedboats. A nationwide programme is estimated to cost US $ 400,000.
Government commitments are critical in the successful implementation of the proposed projects, especially in terms of timely government financial outlay and human resources. Close coordination between and among, the different GOB agencies is necessary and inter-ministry tensions and rivalries must be kept to a minimum. Officials should not work at cross-purposes, undermining efforts initiated by one ministry at the expense of the overall objective of the proposed project initiatives.
Competent international and local staff should be recruited to implement the projects.
Government should be willing and committed to begin sharing and decentralising limited fisheries management responsibility and authority with the fisherfolk and other fisheries stakeholders on an experimental or trial basis.
Prior Obligations and Prerequisites
See above Implementation Arrangements
To be worked out after the initial field survey.
Management and Coordination
To be worked out after the initial field survey.
Accountability and transparency in the delivery of project outputs and performance of the project, including regular staff performance appraisal, will be built into the project implementation mechanism. The LogFrame model will be closely applied to establish project monitoring and evaluation activities. Microsoft software package is a good example of building-in such accountability in project performance and quality of project inputs delivered.
Fish Sanctuary and Bioreserve Project PROPOSED BUDGET
The overall contribution of US $ 600,000 will be requested from interested international donors. The budget breakdown is as follows:
|
Donor contribution |
Thousand US $ |
|
Field studies and planning |
100,000 |
|
Engineering works |
100,000 |
|
Community education |
150,000 |
|
Training of fish guards |
50.000 |
|
Boats, engines, operation and maintenance |
200,000 |
|
Total |
600,000 |
|
Government contribution |
75,000 |
Jatka Fishing Ban Project
PROPOSED BUDGET
The overall contribution of US $ 400,000 would be requested from interested international donors. The budget breakdown is as follows:
|
Donor contribution |
Thousand US $ |
|
Field studies and planning |
---- |
|
Community education |
150,000 |
|
Training of fish guards |
50,000 |
|
Boats, engines, operation and maintenance |
200,000 |
|
Total |
400,000 |
|
Government contribution |
75,000 |
Detailed project formulation would require extensive and comprehensive field site visits to existing critical wintering and spawning grounds and preparation of a complete biological, ecological, sociological and economic profile of the existing situation and potential for project implementation. A special task force will review this basic study. The task force will include representatives from various fisheries and other government agencies, relevant FAP projects, and individual fisher groups active in the proposed sanctuary and bioreserve areas. The recommendations of the task force will incorporate the detailed project proposal which will be presented to the GOB and the international donor community for consideration. An interactive process will be followed in amending the proposal until a final proposal is agreed on. The entire project formulation process should be completed within a year.
1. BACKGROUND AND GENERAL OBJECTIVES
2. PRESENT SITUATION, PROJECT STRATEGY AND EXPECTED RESULTS
3. STRATEGY
4. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
The proposed project to strengthen commercial and specialized financial institutions and NGOs in Bangladesh, aims at enhancing national self-reliance and sustainable development in the field of financially viable and economically beneficial fisheries finance and credit, with the objective of increasing the national economic benefit derived from the fisheries sector.
Particular attention is paid to the improvement of the living conditions of rural fishing communities, including women and youth, as well as to food security and to the provision of affordable animal protein for human consumption and to the generation of income and employment in rural areas.
The preservation and proper management of aquatic resources and environment has received special consideration within the context of the proposed project. Particular attention is paid to credit requirements for the introduction of community-based fisheries management programmes. This includes credit for the diversification of fishing effort away from over-exploited aquatic species to less exploited ones, to the introduction and expansion of semi-intensive aquaculture, to fisheries and non-fisheries related alternative income-generating economic activities, as well as to the utilization of by-products and waste from traditional fish handling and processing practices, and to the promotion of value-added aquatic products.
The project is part of a comprehensive programme package which addresses - in a coordinated and comprehensive manner - the major fisheries development issues in Bangladesh, such as the needs of special subsectors, e.g. marine capture fisheries, brackishwater culture fisheries, inlandwater culture fisheries, inlandwater capture fisheries and freshwater culture fisheries, fish marketing and processing, investment, fisheries management, preservation of the aquatic environment, socioeconomic issues and community development.
The fisheries credit components, as well as other components of the proposed fisheries development programme for Bangladesh, have been prepared in the context of a UNDP/FAO Technical Support Services (TSSI) mission. The proposed is fully compatible with the Five-Year Plan, which emphasises increasing flow of credit to the fisheries sector as well as to underprivileged social groups in Bangladesh.
The proposed project takes fully into account earlier assessments, by the World Bank, the Danish International Development Agency and other donor agencies as well as by non-governmental development agencies working in Bangladesh, of the lack of adequate fisheries credit facilities. The constraints of financial institutions with regard to supervised fisheries lending operations are also considered.
Present situation
Financial institutions in Bangladesh have been involved in financing the fisheries sector on a very modest scale and the achievements in terms of loan disbursements and loan recoveries have not been encouraging. This has been due to, among other things, lack of collateral in the small- and medium-scale fisheries sector and the lack of capacity of the financial institutions to carry out supervised credit operations. They follow inappropriate lending procedures in appraising loan applications and monitoring loan use.
From 1985 onwards, loan disbursements to the fisheries sector have been steadily declining while loan recovery has been deteriorating. An inadequate flow of credit has become a serious obstacle to the implementation of major investment projects of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. It has also prevented entrepreneurs and members of traditional fishing communities from taking full advantage of technical assistance projects and investment opportunities identified by them. At the same time, a shift of emphasis has taken place from medium-term financing of small- and medium-scale rural aquaculture and capture fisheries to short-term financing of export of shrimp.
As far as the role of non-institutional financial intermediaries and of non-governmental organizations is concerned, the provision of credit has been limited to traditional small-scale fisheries activities and, in most cases, only short-term credit requirements are being met. The amounts available for lending are relatively small.
In the case of non-governmental organizations, fishery credit operations are generally not investment-and activity-oriented but are aimed at satisfying the needs of the members of these organizations. The general public normally has no access to these credit facilities. The amounts disbursed so far are small, even when compared to the amounts channelled through commercial and specialized banks.
Non-institutional financial intermediaries, such as fish traders, middlemen and moneylenders, usually offer financially unattractive terms and conditions for loans. Loans provided by this segment of the rural financial market consist mainly of short-term capital advances.
The project aims to strengthen the capacity of the specialized and commercial financial institutions and NGOs in Bangladesh to carry out fishery credit operations for the traditional small-scale as well as for the modem medium- and large-scale sectors through technical assistance, training and provision of a credit guarantee fund.
It is envisaged involving the financial institutions and NGOs in the project in a participatory process through the establishment of an interbank/NGO fishery credit task force to be headed by a representative of the Bangladesh Bank. From the beginning of the project the financial institutions will themselves be responsible for, and in charge of, the acquisition of expertise in supervised fisheries lending, development of appropriate lending norms and procedures for the fisheries sector, conduct of feasibility studies, recruitment and training of staff, and establishment and operation of the credit guarantee fund.
It is expected that the financial institutions will expand their fishery credit operations as they acquire more expertise and gain confidence in financially viable fishery credit operations.
Situation Expected at the End of the Project
Financial institutions and NGOs would have increased their lending to the fisheries sector in Bangladesh, improved their loan recoveries, employed/trained appropriate staff to undertake fishery credit operations, developed linkages with fisheries extension officers and conducted fishery credit operations on a financially viable, economically beneficial and ecologically sound basis.
Development Objective
The project aims at enabling financial institutions and NGOs in Bangladesh to cater to the short-term and medium credit needs of the fisheries sector in Bangladesh, including the small-scale fisheries sector, and to rural fishing communities, including their women and youth. Financial institutions are to support innovations and productivity increases in culture and capture fisheries and the processing and marketing of fish, the timely replacement of equipment, and the meeting of working capital requirements. Financial institutions are also to support the diversification of fishery effort away from over-exploited resources to less- exploited species and aquaculture, the promotion value-added fish processing, and the introduction of alternative income-generating activities. An adequate supply of credit will ultimately facilitate a higher income and increased economic benefits to fisherfolk and fish farmers, increased supplies of fish, and additional employment opportunities in the fisheries sector and outside it.
Immediate objective
Acquisition of knowledge by financial institutions of reasons for failure of past fisheries credit operations, in terms of loan recovery and loan use with regard to sub-sectors such as freshwater pond culture, brackishwater aquaculture.
ACTIVITY 1
Establishment of Interbank/NGO Fisheries Credit Task Force chaired by Bangladesh Bank and consisting of representatives of Bangladesh Bank, Rajashahi Krishi Bank, Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Rupali Bank, Agrani Bank and Bangladesh Samabaya Bank, Grameen Bank, BRAC and Department of Fisheries.
TIME: Year 1, first month.
Local Input
Part-time deputation of staff and meeting facilities and administrative expenses.
Output
Interbank/NGO Fisheries Credit Task Force established.
ACTIVITY 2
Review of fisheries lending operations by subsectors and financial institutions with regard to appropriateness of lending norms, viz. loan amounts, loan disbursement modalities and schedules, loan repayment schedules in view of actual costs, earnings and cash flows. Review of appropriateness of lending procedures, viz. identification of borrowers, loan application and appraisal, supervision of loan use, and arrears control.
TIME: Year 1, second and third months. External Input
- International fisheries credit specialist for two months.
- National rural credit specialist for two months.
Output
Evaluation Report of Fisheries Lending Operations of Financial Institutions in Bangladesh.
ACTIVITY 3
Review, finalization and adoption of evaluation report by task force and individual financial institutions/NGOs.
TIME: year 1, fourth, fifth and sixth months.
Output
Identification of past constraints in fisheries lending.
Immediate Objective
Adoption of appropriate fisheries lending policies, norms and procedures by specialized and commercial banks and NGOs in Bangladesh.
ACTIVITY 4
Design of lending policies, identification and financial analysis of investments and activities to be financed (including activities to be carried out by women) design of lending procedures and norms, preparation of lending programmes and disbursement schedules.
TIME: Year 1, seventh and eighth months.
External Input
- International Fisheries Credit Specialist for two months.
- National Rural Credit Expert for two months.
Output
Appropriate fisheries lending policies, norms procedures and lending programmes for specialized and commercial banks and NGOs in Bangladesh.
ACTIVITY 5
Review, finalization and adoption of fisheries lending policies, norms and procedures by interbank/NGO task force and by boards of specialized and commercial banks.
TIME: Year 1, ninth and tenth months. Output
Availability of appropriate lending policies, norms, procedures and programmes for the fisheries sector with specialized and commercial banks and NGOs in Bangladesh.
Immediate objectives
Appropriate staffing and training plans and programmes of specialized and commercial banks and NGOs in Bangladesh.
ACTIVITY 6
Identification of staffing and training requirements of specialized and commercial banks/NGOs and fisheries administration, for fisheries credit operations, and of suitable cooperating agencies, such as fisheries extension agencies at NGOs.
TIME: Year 1, eleventh and twelfth months. External input
- International Fisheries Credit Manpower and Training Expert for one month.
- National Rural Credit Manpower and Training Expert, two months.
Output
Fisheries credit staffing and training plans, and programmes and cooperation agreements, for specialized and commercial banks, NGOs and fisheries administration in Bangladesh.
ACTIVITY 7
Review, finalization and adoption of staffing and training plans and cooperation agreements by task force, banks and NGOs.
TIME: Year 2, first and second months.
Output
Availability of fisheries credit and training plans and cooperation agreements with banks and NGOs in Bangladesh.
Immediate objectives
Fisheries credit monitoring mechanism in place with banks and NGOs in Bangladesh.
ACTIVITY 8
Design of institution-specific monitoring mechanism for fisheries lending operations, including microcomputer software for monitoring loan recovery.
TIME: Year 2, third and fourth months.
External input
International rural-credit monitoring specialist for one month.
Output
Availability of fisheries credit monitoring mechanisms with banks and NGOs in Bangladesh.
ACTIVITY 9
Review, finalization and adoption of fisheries credit monitoring mechanisms by task force banks and by NGOs.
Output
Availability of credit monitoring systems with banks and NGOs in Bangladesh.
Immediate objectives
Recruitment of technical officers by banks/NGOs and training of bank/NGO personnel.
ACTIVITY 10
Recruitment, as required, and training of senior- middle- and field-level bank, fisheries and NGO staff.
- Study tours for senior personnel to selected financial institutions running successful fisheries credit programmes in South and Southeast Asia.- Training of middle-level officers in Asian rural banking training institutes on fisheries credit delivery and recovery.
- In-country training of field level staff.
TIME: Year 2, seventh to twelfth months.
External input
Study tours and foreign training
Local input
In-country training of field staff.
Output
Availability of trained manpower for fisheries credit operations with banks and fisheries administrations in Bangladesh.
Immediate objective
Institutional fisheries credit guarantee arrangement.
ACTIVITY 11
Design of credit guarantee fund arrangement.
TIME: Year 3, first month.
External input
International Credit Guarantee Specialist for one month.
Local input
Local Credit Guarantee Specialist for one month.
Output
Fisheries credit guarantee arrangement.
ACTIVITY 12
Review, finalization and adoption of credit guarantee arrangement by task force, individual banks and NGOs in Bangladesh.
TIME: Year 3, second and third months.
Output
Availability of fisheries credit guarantee arrangement.
Immediate objective
Implementation and monitoring of need-oriented and financially-viable fisheries credit operations.
ACTIVITY 13
Conduct and monitoring of fisheries lending operations according to newly-introduced fisheries lending policies, norms, procedures and programmes.
TIME: Year 3, fourth to twelfth months.
External input
External contribution to credit guarantee fund.
Local input
Local contribution to credit guarantee fund.
Local input
Funds for fisheries lending.
Output
Availability of financially viable fisheries credit operations in Bangladesh.
E. Summary of Project Inputs
|
Donor contribution |
US $ |
|
Internal personnel: 7 months, including international travel and DSA |
105,000 |
|
National personnel: 6 months |
21,000 |
|
Local travel |
45,000 |
|
Training and study tours |
125,000 |
|
Credit guarantee Fund contribution |
340,000 |
|
Total |
636,000 |
1. BACKGROUND/JUSTIFICATION
2. PROBLEMS, ISSUES AND OPTIONS
3. PROJECT STRATEGY
4 DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES
5. IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVES
6. EXPECTED OUTPUTS
7. WORK PLAN
8. INPUTS
10. BUDGET (ESTIMATE)
|
Implementation Agency: |
FAO/DOF |
|
Project location: |
Dhaka |
|
Project duration: |
5 years |
|
Estimated start date: |
July '96 |
|
Government contribution: |
To be determined |
|
Donor contribution: |
US$ 2,600,000 |
The fisheries sector in Bangladesh is faced with a peculiar dilemma. On the one hand, the fisheries sector is seen as an opportunity to provide the people of Bangladesh with animal protein at a reasonable price, to generate employment and enterprise which, in turn, will alleviate poverty, and to increase production for export to create foreign exchange earnings and contribute to the economy. On the other hand, the fisheries sector faces a crisis. Several fisheries, particularly the inshore marine, estuarine and inland openwater sectors are under stress due to overfishing, environmental and habitat degradation, and uncoordinated multiple use of the water bodies. Inland freshwater aquaculture and coastal aquaculture are facing infrastructural, environmental and socioeconomic hurdles that prevent the processes needed to increase production. The solution lies in facilitating and enabling the fisheries sector to simultaneously increase production and manage fisheries and aquaculture in order to ensure sustainability and profitability
In 1994, the UNDP and FAO worked with the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) to develop a programme proposal for the development of the fisheries sector. This study, which learnt from the situation prevailing in the sector, and from similar exercises undertaken by the World Bank;, proposed several investment and technical assistance projects to develop the sector. However, the success of the effort would largely depend on the capacity of the fisheries sector, in general, and the GoB's Department of Fisheries, in particular, to absorb and do justice to the investments. The cutting edge of the DOF is its field staff who interact with and extend the Government's programmes to the fishers and fish farmers. This project concept and brief is designed to strengthen the Fisheries Extension Service of the Department or Fisheries to address the tasks of promoting, facilitating and enabling fisheries production and fisheries and aquaculture management to achieve ecological sustainability and economic profitability.
2.1 Freshwater and coastal aquaculture
2.2 Inland and marine capture fisheries
2.3 Issues
Bangladesh is endowed with environmental conditions that make aquaculture a very viable sector. It also has a long cultural tradition of aquaculture. The DOF's efforts and knowledge acquired from projects such as the DANIDA-supported effort in Mymensingh and the UNDP/FAO-supported institutional strengthening effort, highlight the following:
- Farmers need technical and managerial skills/knowledge.- Farmers, particularly the poorer sections, need access to waterbodies at reasonable rates.
- Farmers need access to economically viable credit, without undue collateral requirements.
- There is need to ensure seed supply that is not dependent on wild stocks.
- There is need to ensure feed supply.
- The infrastructure needs to be developed to facilitate sustainable aquaculture, particularly, for water quality management and effluent management.
- The siting of aquaculture needs to be regulated and rationalized, keeping environmental and social factors in mind.
- The aquaculture sector needs to be managed through the development of appropriate legislation and regulations.
- Regulations and laws need to be enforced.
- The sector needs to be closely monitored and studied to ensure its further development.
Capture fisheries, primarily in inland waterbodies, and increasingly in the marine waters, provide the bulk of Bangladesh's fish production. A combination of overfishing, destructive fishing, modification of fish habitats by other developments, and pollution of waters has led to a crisis in the sector. While opportunities of tapping undertapped and untapped species exist, the real problem facing the sector is to manage fisheries to ensure biological sustainability and economic profitability. The DOF's efforts and the efforts of FAO and BOB-FAO supported efforts have generated knowledge that highlights the problems and needs of the sector. It is necessary to:
- Ensure that fish habitats are not adversely affected by developmental efforts of other sectors and by land-based and sea-based pollution.- Reduce fishing capacity and effort and, in particular, reduce or eliminate destructive fisheries.
- Build awareness amongst all stakeholders of the need for, the benefits, and methods of fisheries management.
- Encourage and facilitate the availability of alternative income options to take fishers out of fisheries and to reduce the stress on fisheries.
- Manage fisheries.
- Identify under- and untapped species and promote their exploitation in a managed and sustainable manner.
- Develop markets and change customer-demand patterns to facilitate management of fisheries.
- Provide economically viable credit with reasonable collateral requirements.
- Build the capacity of fishers to develop necessary skills/knowledge.
- - Develop infrastructure.
- Manage the fisheries sector through appropriate legislation and regulations.
- Enforce regulations and laws.
- Closely monitor and study the fisheries situation to guide its development.
(1) The DOF's task is to regulate and manage the fisheries sector to meet national and sectoral plans and objectives. So, its primary task is to guide and promote change, facilitate it to monitor the sector, enforce laws and regulations to ensure the sector's sustainability, and, through research, guide and direct its future directions. Looked at in this way, the task of the DOF is mostly extension facilitation and enforcement. A national workshop on fisheries extension organized by MOFL/DOF in 1992 identified these as the primary tasks of the DOF and of its extension service.
(2) Extension staff, in this case all DOF staff at zilla and thana levels, are the only staff of DOF that most fishers and fish farmers ever meet and interact with. Their performance determines the performance of the DOF
(3) The number of extension staff available at the zilla and thana levels is limited and inadequate and the GoB may not be able to add to its staff strength in the immediate future.
(4) The DOF and the 'revenue' staff at zilla and thana levels lack resources in terms of operational budgets and transportation.
(5) The DOF staff at zilla and thana levels have inadequate skills and knowledge to address the task at hand, as described in the sections above. This requires them to have:
- Technical skills in aquaculture and capture fisheries.- Technical skills in fisheries management.
- Skills and abilities to rapidly get to know the community, its needs and dynamics.
- Skills to build rapport with the community and earn its confidence.
- Skills to communicate.
- Skills to facilitate consultations and mediate negotiations.
- Skills and the necessary support from DOF/FRI/other agencies to provide knowledge and skills to fishers and farmers.
- Training skills.
- Skills and the organizational structures to facilitate access to credit.
Most of these skills are of a non-technical nature.
(6) The experience of DANIDA, UNDP/FAO and BOB/FAO efforts convincingly show that it is possible to build in such skills in a very short time and at low cost. However, they also suggest that without the appropriate managerial environment in the DOF, such efforts are very difficult to sustain. Without organizational change and development, technical assistance benefits may be difficult to absorb and sustain. The problems are several:
- The mandate of the DOF is not translated to locale specific situations and needs to generate clear mandates, workplans and output specifications at the thana/zilla levels.- Staff at the thana/zilla level are generalists with little or no opportunities to upgrade their skills.
- Training and experience generated is often wasted due to transfers and shifts from division to division.
- There is little team orientation and little or no backstopping to support field staff.
- There is no incentive for excellence because of lack of performance-orientation in the DOF.
However, both the DOF and experience of development projects have shown that zilla/thana staff are capable and, with some training, support and appropriate management environments, can do an excellent job.
(1) Enhance the skills/knowledge levels of thana/zilla staff to be able to better undertake their tasks.
(2) Minimum staff increases, possibly only to create an in-house training section.
(3) Enhance the skills/knowledge of Division and HQs staff of DOF to better manage, plan and support extension staff and extension activities.
(4) Only undertake tasks that cannot be done by fisheries and private sector.
(5) Use resources of private sector and NGOs wherever possible.
(6) Reduce efforts/costs by transferring management and enforcement responsibilities to fishers and other stakeholders through participation, management approaches.
(7) Give short-term on-job training to reduce disruption of work. All training to follow workcycles to enable staff to use their skills as they learn them.
(8) Raise organizational development needs by careful analysis of project and its learnings, to promote such changes.
The development objectives of the project are to help alleviate rural poverty, by generating employment and income from fisheries and aquaculture, and to promote and facilitate management of fisheries and aquaculture to ensure sustainability of resources.
The project is designed to help achieve the objectives of the fisheries sector of the government's national plan and to build the capacity of the Department of Fisheries to be able to absorb and utilize support received in areas identified as priority by sector studies.
The project will strengthen and build the capacity of the extension staff of the Department of Fisheries, based on the learnings of the DANIDA Mymensingh Extension Project, the FAO/UNDP Institutional Strengthening of the Fisheries Sector Project, and the BOB-FAO programme.
1 Strengthen the Fisheries Extension Service of the Department of Fisheries to facilitate and enable the promotion of aquaculture in a sustainable and equitable manner.
2 Strengthen the Fisheries Extension Service of the Department of Fisheries to facilitate and enable participatory fisheries management.
3. Establish a Training and HRD section with the DOF to train and continuously upgrade staff capacity to undertake the objectives of the DOF.
1 Establishment of a Fishery Extension Service of the DOF consisting of all zilla/thana level staff with appropriate backstopping mechanisms at Division and Headquarters levels.
2. Development of training packages, materials, manuals, for all thana/zilla-level staff, on extension methodology, communication, extension management, consultation/negotiation and awareness-building.
3. Development of training packages, materials, manuals, for all thana/zilla level staff of the DOF, on technical aspects of aquaculture and fisheries management.
4. Establishment of a Training and HRD section at Headquarters-level with cells at Divisional-levels.
5. Training of all DOF staff at thana/zilla level in areas described in Output 2 and in Output 3, as required.
6. Orientation and training of senior staff at Division- and Headquarters-level on extension management.
7. Training of fishers and fish farmers in aquaculture and fisheries initiated and undertaken in a graded.
8. Consultations and negotiations facilitated and mediated to promote participatory fisheries management amongst all stakeholders.
9. Knowledge generated to facilitate and enable organizational development of the DOF in order to improve the managerial environment.
The duration of the project will be five years. The project will have its headquarters in the DOF, Dhaka, and will have cells at Division Headquarters. The FRI will be a collaborating agency.
The project will be nationally executed, with the advisory support and technical assistance of the FAO. The project will be headed by an externally-recruited Extension/Training Adviser who will ensure that the leadership and management of the Project is handed over to a trained national staff by the third year of operation.
The Extension/Training adviser and his/her national counterpart shall, in consultation with the relevant authorities, evolve the detailed workplans/approaches as dictated by real needs ascertained by the activities of the project.
The first task of the project would be to identify a core team of trainers who will evolve training packages in the process of training and leading the DOF staff through the implementation of the training's learnings.
DONOR INPUTS
|
- International advisor/coordinator |
36 m/m |
- National consultants/contractual services for training of trainers, core training team, studies, materials development.
- Travel of project staf within country.
- Equipment to facilitate training, media material, equipment, vehicles (2), computer/printer, photocopying machine.
- Training expenses
- Materials development and production expenses.
GOVERNMENT INPUTS
Full time (revenue) staffing to build core training/HRD team at Headquarters plus cells at Division Headquarters. Rest to be determined.
|
|
US $ |
|
International advisor |
500,000 |
|
National consultants plus contractual services |
250,000 |
|
Travel |
250,000 |
|
General operation expenses |
150,000 |
|
Equipment |
200,000 |
|
Training |
1,000,000 |
|
Materials production |
250,000 |
|
Total |
2,600,000 |
