9. PROPOSED INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR SOCIOECONOMIC RESEARCH IN FRI

9.1 Present Status

At present there are 2 Divisions, namely Fishery Economics and Socioeconomics Division at FRI Freshwater Station (Mymensingh) and Fishery Socioeconomics Division at FRI Marine Fisheries and Technology Station (Cox's Bazar). (see Fisheries Reseach Institute Organogram in Annex 2) These divisions have allocation for a professional staff of 11. All of these posts are vacant including the positions of the Division Principal and Senior Scientific Officers.¹

¹ On the basis of last moment information, recently 1 SSO and 2SOs positions have been filled by Zoologist and Biologists in Fishery Science. It is strongly recommended that the objective should be to establish Economic and Socioeconomic Divisions within FRI and not to replicate FRI within Economic and Socioeconomic Divisions. For this reason it is recommended that the above scientist to be transferred to other divisions were their services would be more appreciated. As for the staff recruitment for Economic and Socioeconomic Divisions the recommendations with respect to appropriate qualifications and experience as elaborated in this chapter are further emphasized.

Fisheries Economics and Socioeconomics Division
(at FRI Freshwater Station, Mymensingh)

² See footnote 1.

Fisheries Socioeconomics Division
(at FRI Marine Fisheries and Technology Station, Cox's Bazar)

Currently FRI has no fisheries economics or socioeconomics core research programmes. The main function of FRI in the area of fisheries economics and socioeconomics is currently confined to ad hoc rudimentary assignments which are carried out by the staff of other divisions with no qualifications or adequate training in fisheries economics or socioeconomics.

In the absence of specialised core research programmes as well as lack of Fisheries Economist/Socioeconomist, FRI contribution in fisheries-related socioeconomic research or socioeconomic impact studies and review of policies/programmes/projects in the fisheries sector has been very marginal, if at all.

9.2 Recommendations for Strengthening the Role of FRI in Socioeconomic Research in the Fisheries Sector

9.2.1 Functions

In line with the recommendations made in Chapter 7 above, it is proposed that the FRI economic and socioeconomic Divisions should have the following functions, to be divided according to the specialized domain of each Division, namely Fisheries Economics and Socioeconomic Division (at FRI FS in Mymensingh) dealing with capture fisheries and Fisheries Socioeconomic Division (at FRI MFTS in Cox's Bazar) dealing with culture fisheries:

1. Prepartion and implementation of the annual work plan according to the (proposed) FRI economics and socioeconomics core research programmes, projects and components.

2. Design and formulation of future research projects as required in line with the core research programmes.

3. Establish and maintain an efficient Documentation and Data Bank Unit for all fisheries related projects and programmes, a data base of reliable and comprehensive information on the sector ensuring that the recommendations are based on sound and comprehensive data on fisheries, fisheries resources, by-products, marketing and technologies used.

4. Ensure that personnel in the FESED Divisions are appropriately trained in the areas of fisheries socioeconomic survey and research techniques and procedures, policy and project analysis and formulation as well as review and impact studies.

5. Conduct socio-economic surveys.

6. Participate in planning for integrated rural development and resource management.

7. conduct studies on economic and socio-economic aspects of marine fisheries: and make policy recommendations on sustainable improvement of small-scale fishing communities; managing the resource to maximize its productivity and also to allocate the limited marine fisheries between small-scale fishing communities and industrial fisheries to avoid the conflict between them.

8. Conduct socio-economic impact studies of marine fisheries-related policies and projects.

9. Conduct studies on economic and socio-economic aspects of aquaculture: and make policy recommendations on sustainable improvement of small-scale fish farmers; managing the resource to maximize its productivity.

10. Conduct study to evaluate the economics of aquaculture operations in different scales and types of managements.

11. Conduct socio-economic impact studies of policies and projects related to aquaculture and cultured-based open-water fisheries.

9. Preparation of an Annual Report on the progress and problems in the implementation of fisheries and related projects and programmes.

12. Participate in and make appropriate recommendations to the Fishery Technical Committee on Annual Plan & Budget on resource allocation priorities and harmonization of the fisheries research in the country.

13. Provide leadership in the review and discussions on the fishery development policy proposals.

14. Cooperate and liaise with national and international fishery research institutes and bodies all over the world on matters of fishery socioeconomic research and fishing community development.

9.2.2 Staff Recruitment

The proposed socioeconomic core research programmes and projects/components recommended in Chapter 7 of this report would demand a highly professional and very intensive series of outputs from the Socioeconomic Divisions within FRI. In order to carry out the fisheries economics and Socioeconomic core research programmes FRI needs to start recruitment of appropriately qualified and wellexperienced professional staff to fill all the vacant posts at the Fisheries Economics and Socioeconomics Divisions as follows:

Staff Requirements
Fisheries Economics and Socioeconomics Divisions

Required Qualifications and Experience for Staff Requirements Fisheries Economics and Socioeconomics Divisions (FESEDs)

9.2.3 Training and Technical Assistance

Since the areas of fisheries economics and socioeconomics research are rather new for FRI and the recruitment of staff with the above qualifications and years of experience may not be so easy it is recommended that a definite action plan should be prepared and implemented for upgrading the skills of the staff who may have to be employed with less experience and/or lower qualifications than ideally required. The objectives of training programme for FESEDs professional staff should be to provide training in the following areas:

1. Economics of Fisheries
2. Socioeconomics of Fisheries
3. Fishery Policy Formulation and Planning
4. Fishery Project Design
5. Economic and Financial Analysis of Fisheries-Related Projects
6. Fishery Project and Programme Management
7. Monitoring and Evaluation
8. Survey Methods
9. Sampling and Statistical analysis
10. Fisheries Information Processing and Computer Applications

Seven types of training are recommended, namely:

1. Short-term overseas training for the PSO and SSOs of FESE Divisions in relevant areas as listed above).

2. three-year post graduate training in:

   1. Economics of Fisheries

   2. Fisheries Socioeconomics

   for the PSO and SSOs of the Divisions respectively.

3. One-year post graduate training in:

   1. Economics of Fisheries

   2. Fisheries Socioeconomics

   for the SOS of the Divisions

4. Study Tour (FRI in a successful competitor in the area of fisheries economic and socioeconomic research)

5. Local Short Courses (in-service training in the relevant areas for the junior professional staff of the FESE Divisions.

6. Seminars and Workshops (Various topics as needed)

7. On-the-Job training.

Donor support should be solicited for the above-mentioned training activities. The FESE Divisions would also need technical assistance for three years to assist in its establishment and training activities as well as in implementation of FRI economic and socioeconomic core research programmes as outlined in this report. (For the Technical Assistance Project “Assistance to FRI in Socioeconomic Research” proposed in this report, see Chapter 8)

9.2.4 Other Inputs

The FESED Divisions would need assured transport, suitable office space and equipments, data processing facilities and adequate provision for travel and operation costs. (Further details are provided in section 8.1).