1. INTRODUCTION

(01) The General Research Plan of the Fisheries Research Institute (TA-Report No 10) identifies the areas of fisheries research in Bangladesh and their priorities. They are summarized in Table 3 of that Report (p. 23 + 24). The General Research Plan also indicates how priority areas are converted into programmes and projects: Annex A of the Report shows this for the two existing stations (Mymensingh and Chandpur). For the two planned stations (Paikgacha and Cox's Bazar) only indications of programmes and projects were presented.

(02) All identified projects were planned to be detailed in separate reports, that could at the same time act as proposals for contract research funding. For a number of projects in Mymensingh and Chandpur this has actually been carried out already; detailing of the remaining projects of these two stations is under preparation. The detailed plans are prepared by the researchers allotted to the project, with the help of the station management and of a team of national and expatriate consultants (FAO/UNDP, DANIDA, IDRC). The plans contain:

• a description of the significance of the project for Bangladesh (justification, perspectives, and impact);
• the specific objectives of the project;
• an elaborate literature review, presenting the status of the knowhow in the country and elsewhere;
• the methodologies to be followed and the way the results have to be evaluated;
• the relation with other projects in the Institute and elsewhere;
• the needs for manpower, facilities, and materials and the costs thereof;
• a time schedule.

The plans are written in such a way that they remain valuable for a number of years; if a research project can not be started right away, the planned objectives, methodologies and budgeted quantities do not loose their value. For a later start only the costs will have to be adapted, and eventual recent experiences (literature) will have to be worked in.

(03) Preparation of such detailed plans takes time. The Board of Governors of FRI, however, requested insight into the objectives of all planned projects at an early stage. For that reason the present report has been prepared: it provides for each planned project some information at a glance, namely:

• the title and code number of the project;
• the place of the project within the Institute (station, programme);
• the research areas to which the project is expected to contribute (these are the areas from Table 3 of the General Research Plan, of which the codes have been mentioned);
• the objectives of the project (in short);
• the expected starting and finalization dates;
• the number of researchers and supporting staff needed;
• the estimated operational and capital expenses.

This information is collected in the form of a Project Summary of one page for each project; the Project Summaries are bundled according to the programme codes:

• programmes A - G in the Freshwater Aquaculture Research Station (FARS) at Mymensingh;
• programmes H - M in the Riverine Fisheries Research Station (RFRS) at Chandpur;
• programmes N - R in the Brackishwater Fisheries Research Station at Paikgacha;
• programmes S - V in the Marine Fisheries and Mariculture Research Station (MFRS) at Cox's Bazar.

(04) Not all Project Summaries presented in this report have the same background. Some of them are based on already available detailed plans, and can therefore be considered very accurate in the estimates of manpower and money. Other Summaries, especially those for Paikgacha and Cox's Bazar, have to be considered as rough estimates only. Moreover, a number of the subject matter specialists have not yet been fielded, and they must have the opportunity to use their specialistic knowledge to adapt objectives somewhat and to rearrange projects. They will, however, not change the priority areas and the general objectives. The present report has therefore to be considered partly as the best that can be delivered at the end of 1986; it is intended to prepare a second edition at the end of 1987, when all planned projects are expected to be detailed.

(05) The present set of Project Summaries opens the possibility to develop it into a yearly FRI research review document. When an extra page is added to each Project Summary, this second page (or backside) could present short information of the progress of the project in the past year (results, constraints, budgetary situation, etc.) and of the intentions for the future (e.g. adaptation of objectives). By storing the contents of these two-page Summaries in the (coming) FRI administrative computer, the yearly production of such an updated review is a small job, whereas it can provide the institute's Management and Board with a good basic document for ready reference and for policy decisions.