According to the UN/FAO “Strategy for Fisheries Management and Development” which reviewed the performance of past fisheries investment projects during the last decade, it was found that significant problems were very often encountered during their implementation (FAO, 1986). Valuable lessons can be learned and these are useful in proposing and developing alternative options to them. Also, investments in fisheries are frequently not soundly based and do not meet identified needs. Alternative opportunities and options are also frequently overlooked or passed over.
This chapter presents suggested modifications or possible alternatives to the different proposed government (or available) fisheries development strategies, programmes and projects as contained in the FFYP for the consideration of the government. As pointed out earlier, the need to protect investments from possible loss and public accountability must somehow be impressed upon government policy-makers and planners.
This is not to say that such measures are non-existent or have not been build into the existing government machinery. Rather, it is to create greater awareness of the importance of and point out that closer monitoring and evaluation of the progress and problems of the implementation of such government programmes and projects will ensure that development targets, benefits and desired outputs are achieved in time or as scheduled.
In other words, project performance and delivery of services to the target beneficiaries must be regularly checked so that remedial measures can quickly be taken if these are not achieved or being held back. In Bangladesh, project implementation is notoriously known for its legendary delays (in start-up and completion) and corresponding cost overruns and project spillovers. Many factors can be cited for and attributed to such delays, cost overruns and carryovers. Such problems can partly be traced to poorly conceived/formulated projects or ill-advised policy and programmes. Because of these, such projects often failed miserably; expected benefits failed to materialise or sacrificed and in many cases, incomes and opportunities are foregone.
The different fisheries strategies, programmes and projects are analysed below with a view to suggest possible modifications and/or alternatives to the ones found in the FFYP. In all cases, serious considerations are given to the need to protect and recover investments. However measured, returns on investments must be positive, especially social benefits. Successful projects result in higher local and national output.
So far, open water stocking does not appear to have any public accountability. For example, in 1989 out of 40 million advanced (2–5 inches) fingerlings released under this programme, 34 million have been liberated in 167 jalmahals or large water bodies all over the country. Of those released, 90 % were “stocked” in completely free-flowing open waters. These waters, unlike those of closed or semi-closed waters like ox-bow lakes or baors, beels and haors do not provide any means of confinement. Except for the occasional landing of the non-indigenous (not native to these waters) silver carp, no other qualitative nor quantitative information is available to the government or public regarding the success or failure of the use of such public funds (for open water stocking).
For 1989, the cost of open water stocking is estimated at Tk10.4 million or US$302,000 for fingerlings alone. In the absence of an in-depth assessment of the socioeconomic impact of such openwater stocking, the balance sheet has only debit (expenditures) and no credit (incomes) to show for. It can be argued that the same expenditure of US$302,000 or 34 million advanced fingerlings stocked in semi-closed waters like ox-bow lakes or even distributed to pond owners would return more per dollar investment than stocked in rivers.
Another possibility is to introduce cage and pen culture to the rural population, especially the landless and marginal farmers. Cage and pen culture is not new to the country. It had been tried in experimental station and in the field but unsuccessfully ! Valuable lessons have been learned from such effort. It is time to try again. Cage and pen culture of both freshwater and marine finfish and shellfish are now successful commercial operations in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Depending on the species and their market value, the economic returns from cage and pen culture are high. Much higher returns can be realised if they are marketed live, especially in lucrative markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Many governments are especially attracted to such a programme to alleviate poverty and improve the standards of living of the poor landless and marginal farmers because no huge government outlay is required. As no land is involved, the capital investment is low. The major costs are cage and pen construction material, seed, feed and labour. The skills needed for cage and pen culture are not difficult to learn; farmers can be trained in a short time, including cage and pen construction. With the exception of net mesh material, the other construction materials are readily available locally. Split bamboo screens can be fashioned as netting materials in place of the expensive imported nylon and polyethylene mesh nets.
This analysis is not suggesting that the entire inland open water stocking programme be scraped. Rather, it suggests that the basic premise or rationale as well as the economic and financial soundness of the programme be re-examined, especially the balance between stocking in completely free-flowing waters like rivers and semi-confined or closed waters like beels and baors; the stocking ratio reportedly being 90:10 respectively. A more balanced ratio, perhaps reversing the present ratio of 90:10 would clearly accrue greater benefits to the people.
Japan, a country awash with cash spends miserly for their open water stocking of their inland sea and other open water bodies. Japanese fisheries scientists explain that the returns from open water stocking are not completely known. They are carried out to enchance broodstock development and not for recapture as marketsized or table fish. Further, as will be shown later there is a fallacy in the basic rationale of the programme.
Before the programme on open water stocking is continued or expanded which has already been proposed under Asian Development Bank and World Bank assistance, its impact must somehow be closely evaluated. This is to prevent scarce resources from being commited to a programme strategy whose pay-back and recovery of investments are not known. To stock more than US$300,000 worth of fingerlings in open waters for recapture as table fish in a single year in a country which can hardly afford to spare such cash without knowing its actual impact needs to be re-examined.
Even though the programme will ensure that precautionary measures are taken to liberate only advanced fingerlings during the monsoon high water season when natural fish food is abundant and fishing is curtailed as well as to disperse them to minimise poaching and early fishing, many questions remain unanswered.
Although the government recognises the intractable problems associated with such a difficult programme as open water stocking, it has agreed to it because of the people's heavy dependence on such open waters for their livelihood and sustenance. At the minimum, the open water fisheries supplies about 400,000 tons of fish each year worth at least Tk16 million, assuming a price of Tk40/kg of fish. In addition, over to a million fishermen find employment and income-generating opportunities in this subsector. Although the government means well and the programme is well-intentioned, there is a need to re-think such public investments. This re-thinking is also timely in light of recent preliminary finding regarding natural recruitment of the fisheries within the dyked/poldered FCDI/FCD areas.
Even though the extensive engineering structures of the flood control, drainage and irrigation works have drastically reduced natural recruitment of fish into the poldered areas in the beginning, recent catch assessment surveys show that some natural recruitment is apparently taking place now. In the first place, recruitment was literally cut not because of the decline of the fish stock population but rather recruitment was cut off because of the extensive embankments and other physical flood control structures impeding fish migration.
Some fish have now been found to enter the dyked complexes either through the pumped water during the operation of the pumping stations via the flood control and sluice gates or with the rising flood water. This is a positive new development which Man can clearly aid to further increase such recruitment.
This means that more field survey and research are needed to understand the seasonal migratory behaviour, feeding habit and movement, pattern of reproductive behaviour and egg dispersal as well as spawning grounds of the different fish species found in the country's waters.
Such information can be extremely invaluable to enhance greater recruitment into the fisheries within the extensive dyked and poldered land complexes. If necessary, fish passages, ladders and other similar structures can be constructed to assist such recruitment. Artificial structures are definitely needed to tap the fisheries resources of the huge and productive rivers of Bangladesh into the poldered areas.
A small additional government investment or public expenditure in the construction of such structures may yield greater benefits in comparison to the public expenditure on open water stocking whose benefits are not at all clear.
As pointed out earlier, about 2.25 billion fry are required each year. At present, only an estimated 1.64 billion fry are produced from all the different sources - wild and artificial (hatchery-produced through induced breeding) by the privately- and government-owned hatcheries and fish seed multiplication farms. By far, the largest quantity of seeds is produced by the private sector, estimated at 1.60 billion pieces or roughly 98 %. Government hatcheries and fish seed multiplication farms only account for the remaining 40 million fry or about 2 %. There is thus a 37 % or 0.61 billion fry shortfall in the supply of seeds.
At present, there are about 300 private fish hatcheries and fish seed multiplication farms and another 84 government hatcheries and fish seed multiplication farms in the country. This is in addition to the 20 fish seed multiplication farms under the ownership and management of the Grameen Bank. These 20 fish seed multiplication farms were previously owned by the Department of Fisheries but have recently been turned over to the Grameen Bank.
Assuming a production capacity of 10 million fry per year per facility, the combined production capacity of all these hatcheries and fish seed multiplication farms is estimated at 4.03 billion fry. In theory therefore, there should be no problem with fish seed supply in the country.
Preliminary field survey by the UNDP/FAO Project on Institutional Strengthening in the Fisheries Sector also seems to confirm that fish seed supply is not a problem. Many private hatchery and fish seed multiplication farm owners allege that they find it difficult to dispose or sell their seeds.
This is also consistent with the recommendation of the Marr Mission (1985) which proposed that the production of 2.5–5.0 cm seeds be completely taken over by the private sector as the private sector can now produce the seeds successfully.
Besides, there also exists a large wild or natural spawn and fry industry. In 1987, Rahman (1989) reported that this private seed industry is worth Tk475 million. In that year alone, about 22,000 kg of spawn were collected which in theory can be hatched into 11 billion fry. Add to this the production of 6,500 kg of spawn or another 3.25 billion hatchlings through artificial breeding. However, due to poor handling and management during nursery rearing and seed distribution, mortality is very high, generally estimated at well over 90 % at this stage.
Clearly, highly profitable opportunities exist to improve upon the existing system of hatchery and nursery techniques and seed distribution and transportation system. It is estimated that it costs Tk30–35 to produce a kg of fingerlings which can fetch Tk50– 55/kg. Producers allegedly will supply at Tk60–80/kg. Also, for every percentage point increase in the survival rates of the hatchlings from the present 8-10 % would make available another 142.5 million seeds worth Tk6.13 million income to the hatchery or fish seed multiplication farm owners/operators.
This picture, however is quite different when it comes to the production of advanced fingerlings. As pointed out elsewhere in this analysis, the production of advanced fingerlings is alleged to be uneconomical given the prevailing price for advanced fingerlings in the local market. As a result, private fish hatchery/fish seed multiplication farm owners/operators are not interested to nurse and rear them to this size.
Research into the economic analysis of advanced fingerling production can identify and single out areas where improvements in the efficiency of advanced fingerling production can be obtained. Such an economic analysis can assist the biologists or aquaculturists to determine ways and means to cut down the cost of production.
At the same time, the price of advanced fingerlings will rise as demand for advanced fingerlings clearly exists. This demand directly arises from the two large government fisheries projects cited earlier which call for the stocking of advanced fingerlings in open waters under the World Bank Third Fisheries Project's and Asian Development Bank Second Aquaculture Project's open water stocking programmes.
The World Bank project would require 3,000 tons of advanced fingerlings per year. Even though the Asian Development Bank project will produce its own fingerling requirement, it is expected to rely on the market for its supply. As there is no supply of advanced fingerlings in the market or the producers are not willing to supply them at the alleged present “low or uneconomical” market price, its price will increase or will be bid up as the demand has to be satisfied.
NOW that the private sector is able to produce the fish fry required, the government fish seed multiplication farms should be divested or turn over to the private sector. They have now become redundant and have outlived their usefulness. The private sector should take over the business of supplying fish seed to the industry, as it should be in an increasingly market-oriented and market driven economy. There is, however resistance to this privatisation proposal for non-economic reasons. Government policy -makers and planners should be firm and not give in to pressures to maintain these fish seed multiplication farms under government sponsorship.
In Bangladesh, fisheries products have consistently fetch low or unfavourable ex-vessel or ex-farm prices in the markets, to the detriment of the fishermen or fish farmers. This is, however not so at the retail level. The fish market at the national and local levels has been described as oligopolistic and oligopnistic, being controlled by a few large dealers on the buying and selling sides.
Even though the government-owned Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation (BFDC), the commercial arm of the government's venture into fish supply procurement (sometimes in production), processing, cold storage and freezing, marketing and distributing is supposed to improve the efficiency of the country's fish marketing system, market imperfections still persist.
Improving the efficiency of the existing fish marketing and distributing system would not only benefit the consumers in terms of higher quality product at the same or higher price but will also ensure that the fishermen and fish farmers are adequately compensated for their labour and the risks they take. In this respect, the government can start with the BFDC's business operations which appear much to be desired.
The packaging and handling of fish products at the BFDC's retail outlets would turn potential customers away. Lessons can be usefully learned from the attractive retail packaging for product presentation and convenience of the other business sectors to attract customers, especially housemakers and those who are considering to include fish in their daily menu.
Further, past experience in adding value to the catch landed has largely been limited to cleaning, sorting/grading, deheading, deveining, packing and freezing the shrimp. Less effort, however is expended to clean and sort or grade the fish. This is commonly referred to as primary handling.
On the other hand, secondary processing is more involved and adds more value to the raw material. It involves more than just the provision of labour for cleaning, sorting and grading. Except for shrimp “processing”, a review of past and present experience in this entrepreneurial endeavour reveals that value-added processing of the catch is still very limited and rudimentary. It is found that less than a third of the catch landed is salted and dried; the other two-thirds are marketed either as fresh uniced (a larger proportion) or as iced fish.
Even so, good quality dried salt fish is difficult to find in the local market. It has been estimated that about 20 % of the fish landed is lost due to poor or improper handling. Fish is frequently not iced because Bangladeshi consumers have less preference or taste for iced fish. They prefer fresh uniced fish. For a small additional investment, the estimated 20 % post-harvest loss can be re-injected and returned to the market channels and thus become available to the consuming public again by simply improving post-harvest primary handling and secondary processing.
Thus, except for limited salting and drying of fish and some primary handling/secondary processing of shrimp and fish as frozen products for exports, no other post-harvest industry exists for secondary processing like fish canning, fish meal manufacture, minced fish or surimi production or even fish ball/fish cake/fish sauce/fish paste/fish cracker production. Not even at the cottage industry or smallscale level. Abundant opportunities exist for such investments.
The country's Fourth Plan projects that nearly 37,000 tons of fish meal will have to be imported to underpin the aquaculture production expansion envisaged in the new Plan. The prospects of Bangladesh having to import fish meal to support expanded aquaculture production is, however economically frightening. Reliance on imported feed will obviously reduce the competitiveness of the country's fish exports.
The production of surimi or minced fish from low-value high volume fish is now a growing industry and attractive investment opportunity in many developing countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Surimi is the raw material which is now increasingly being used to make or fashion analogue seafood items like imitation crab and lobster claws, fish fingers/fillet and shrimp tails.
Smallscale fish meal production can be integrated with surimi production or fish canning/processing. The by-catch from shrimp trawlers can similarly supplement the raw material required for fish meal production. If fish meal cannot be produced economically in the country or imported at an economical price, the expansion of cultured-based fish production or aquaculture based on fish meal-dependent diets/nutrition should be re-examined.
Increasing fish production by aquaculture means does not need to depend on fish meal-based diets. Other more or equally profitable and economical means of fish production are available such as integrated fish farming where the by-products and waste products from agriculture (crop and livestock farming) and agroindustries and fish processing can be recycled both as fish feeds and fertilisers in producing fish.
Under present Bangladeshi socioeconomic conditions, it is not yet possible to produce fish for the domestic market based on fish meal-dependent diets. The price of such fish is still beyond the purchasing power of the large majority of the consuming public. Even those fish and shrimp produced with little or no fish meal are out of reach of the majority of the people except for the well-to-do segment of the population. This is especially true in the case of marine shrimp which are mainly exported.
Should the country's policy-makers and planners wish to tap the lucrative export market to earn foreign exchange, the introduction of such fish culture activities must be closely examined. This is because, as pointed out elsewhere in the analysis Bangladesh does not have a fish meal industry yet. The fish meal which is presently being produced is not only small in quantity but of very low grade and insufficient to meet even the need of the livestock feed industry. It is thus very important that the economics of fish culture based on a largely fish meal diet has to be closely analysed and worked out before introducing such production operations.
Another positive emerging trend in the foreign demand for fish which bodes well for value-added processing is that the demand for unprocessed fish is declining. Overseas consumers are increasingly demanding more processed and ready-to-cook or ready-to-eat fish product-forms. Local investors and businessmen should take advantage of such emerging trends to capture the market before others do.
Conspicuous by its absence is the planning for developing new markets for fish within and outside the country in the past and current five-year plans. Although it cannot be denied that the country is not producing sufficient quantities to meet its demand, greater investment in fish production is not encouraged if the market is viewed as being limited or the scope of market expansion is not readily apparent.
For example, the captive market for institutional feeding for military camps/cantonments, hospitals, schools and institutions of higher learning (dormitories/hostels) and not forgeting prisons have not been looked into as possible sources of demand. According to Kent (1986), if one takes the budget already alloted for meals in an institution (e.g prison), it may be found that better nutritive value can be obtained by purchasing supplies from a local aquaculture operation on a contract basis than by purchasing on the open market. This will hold true even if money is collected as payments for meals.
Hotels, restaurants and factories in industrial zones are clearly additional sources of demand which can be tapped with a little planning and organisation. Although present output level of fish cannot meet the growing demand (i.e demand-supply deficit), the development of new market should not be overlooked. Steps can be taken to plan to develop new markets.
Alternatively, these institutions themselves (e.g prisons and schools) can produce their own fish in ponds constructed for this purpose on their premises. In Northeast Thailand, one of the poorest, if not the poorest region in the country the fish produced in school ponds is used for the school's feeding programme. Many schools there now have started such school feeding programme as the children's scholastic performance has gradually improved due to improved nutrition.
This development planning option should be investigated for the Bangladesh school system. Kent (1986) argued that such programmes are attractive because of the consolidation of a large volume demand in a single decision-making centre, resulting in potentially large economies of scale in terms of production and marketing. As pointed out above, fish farming can be carried out in the school premises itself. The school children themselves can and should be involved in the operation and management of the fish pond.
Such hands-on involvement and experience provides valuable training to them, especially in managerial skills. An added attraction in the Bangladeshi context is the prevalence of widespread hunger, malnutrition and protein deficiency among children. Children are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition (Kent, 1986). They are the future of the Nation. Balanced nutrition plays a vital role in this human capital investment and development.
According to Kent (1986), commercial aquaculture is more responsive to market demand of middle and upper income consumers either in the domestic or export market because supplying people who have money is generally more profitable. He lamented how it is possible to promote aquaculture that provides fish for consumption by the poor. The solution lies in integrated fish farming based on “waste recycling” as described above. Species low in the food chain are preferred over carnivorous species.
This initiative has already been started and needs to be actively and widely encouraged throughout the country. The popular belief, including “field survey finding” that integrated fish farming has not caught on in the country because the village ponds have multiple uses is found to be a misconception. Not all ponds are used to supply water for household uses. Integrated fish farming is slowly and steadily catching on in Bangladesh. This momentum, however must be sustained.
In mobilising resources, the government has so far paid very little attention to women in promoting economic development for the country. As an equally important resource, women can positively contribute to the government's programme in nation-building. Thus, instead of targeting men alone, women should also be brought into the economic development process.
Until recently, population planning, especially in the rural areas of many developing countries like Bangladesh has concentrated on programmes on birth control to lower the birth and population growth rates. Due to poverty and large family size in rural Bangladesh, child marriages involving young girls are traditionally quite common, even until now. These girls are married off at a very young age; some as early as 10–12 years old. Furthermore, in poor households they normally eat leftover foods after the male children and adult males have eaten. More discouraging is the age-old practice where parents are hesitant to invest in the education of girls as they will join the husband's households after marriage.
Thus, although laws exist which prohibit all manners of discrimination against and unequal treatment of women in education, training, employment, public services like health care, property ownership, etc, these are not rigidly observed, let alone enforced. Future population and women-centred programmes should redress these past injustice and lack of opportunities. Investment in women by opening up and providing more opportunities to them should be immediately stepped up. These are already well enuciated and will not be elaborated here.
Different studies have found a strong correlation between infrastructure development and improved income levels of the people where these infrastructures were constructed. According to the World Bank Report on Poverty 1990, infrastructural development in rural Bangladesh such as the construction of roads, rural electrification, provision of educational, health and marketing facilities is positively correlated to a rise in the incomes of all households. For fisheries and livestock, income levels increased by 78 %; it is 92 % for wage incomes and 24 % for crops.
From this, it is clear that investment in infrastructures pays and are still greatly needed to accelerate the pace of economic upliftment in the country. However, such infrastructure investment must be carefully selected. Such infrastructure investment should not add to the existing capacity. The government needs to pay closer attention to this aspect in its effort to improve the well-being of the country's fishing and fish farming communities, especially those in remote and isolated fishing villages.
In this respect, it is obvious that the government has not done enough for infrastructure construction and development in the villages in general and in remote and isolated villages in particular. To an extent, infrastructure improvement is observed to be quite Dhaka-centric.
Unlike other cropping systems in agriculture, fish production can be carried out in poor soils and marginal lands not suited to many types of agricultural cropping. Adequate water supply and depth for fish production is another frequently misunderstood requirement. If water supply and depth is inadequate, the product form of the final output can be adjusted accordingly, like for example from market-size or table-ready fish to the production of fingerlings for sale as stocking materials. Fish farmers do not need to limit themselves to the production of market-size fish and leave fry and fingerling production to specialised producers. They too can have the option to produce fry and fingerlings.
Therefore, effort should immediately be mounted to bring under production all available marginal lands and waters. To ensure that the people, especially in the rural areas take up fish production the government needs to intensify its fisheries extension programme and supervised financial and credit assistance to the people. As backyard fish production for household consumption is not yet wide-spread in the rural areas, such a production scheme should also be looked into. Material and technical assistance can be initially provided free of cost to participating households to encourage the scheme's success.
Last but not least, the terms of trade between the fisheries sector and the input supply sector have to be examined, especially in the face of spiralling cost-price squeeze on inputs such as fuel.
