FISHERS’ PERCEPTIONS ON THE PERFORMANCES OF HILSA SANCTUARIES IN THE MEGHNA ESTUARY OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

Hilsa, the national fish of Bangladesh comprises the largest single-species fishery of the country constituting 11% of the total catch and employing 2.5 million people as either direct or indirect beneficiary. Since 2003, a sharp decline in the catch figures forced the government to take protective measures for sustainability of the hilsa fishery. After that the government has established five sanctuaries in Bhola, Chandpur, Barisal, Patuakhali and Shariatpur district where fishing ban is declared for a certain period each year. This study was examined the perception of fishers on socio-ecological performances of hilsa sanctuaries. Understanding fishers‟ perception is important as compliance of conservation laws often influenced by how fishers perceive benefits of sanctuaries. To collected empirical data fieldwork was conducted with four fishing communities living adjacent to sanctuaries for collection of empirical data. Besides a household survey, a number of qualitative tools such as key informant interview, focused group discussions, and oral history were employed. The interview participants perceived that sanctuaries have an extensive range of both positive and negative impact on social and economic aspect of local communities. Due to the fishing ban, these full time fishers got various livelihood problems such as scarcity of alternative earning activities, lack of government support and consequent poverty. It is found that hilsa sanctuaries lead to income loss of the poor fishers which was insufficiently compensated by government support program. To compensate income loss, fishers resorted illegal fishing which undermine the success of sanctuaries. In terms of ecological benefits, most fishers were perceived that production of hilsa and other species were increased as a direct consequences of sanctuaries establishment, which is supported by catch statistics of hilsa fishery. Based on the fishers‟ perception, this study had identified various problems regarding the performance of hilsa sanctuaries such as inaccurate demarcation of the sanctuary area, use of monofilament gill net, inappropriate listing of fishers, unequal and partial distribution of the incentives etc. Tackling these issues will certainly enhance the benefits of sanctuaries – the fishers in the present study perceived so.