Community Based Institutions And Sustainable Livelihoods Of Inland Fishermen Of Bangladesh

This study investigated the impact of Community Based Fisheries Management (CBFM) on household’s welfare by examining how the various types of assets contribute to household income. A survey of 240 households in Bangladesh was conducted from February to May 2005 to obtain information from fishermen at CBFM and non CBFM sites (control sites). The major objective of CBFM is to build local fishery community organizations for managing fisheries sustainably and improve livelihood conditions of poor fishermen. This is carried out by providing credit, training and developing social awareness so that fishermen’s capacities for managing their livelihood assets are enhanced. A livelihood assets framework is utilized and a regression model is used to analyze the factors that contribute to household income of poor fishermen under the CBFM and in non CBFM control sites.The study finds that the fishermen under CBFM areas have improved their access to different assets such as social capital, human capital, physical capital, financial capital and natural capital. The Principal Component Analysis is used to develop an index of the key variables to be considered in measuring the different asset variables. The results show that the levels of the assets are higher in the CBFM sites compared to the control sites. The participants have acquired use rights of water bodies through administrative support from the government. The organized fishermen participation in making decisions has increased. The participants received higher amount of credit (financial assets) including interest free loans from NGOs to pay for their lease fees and to meet other fisheries related costs. Both the fishermen in the project and control areas have poor productive assets. The fishermen sell their assets during the period of crisis since they do not have savings to fall back to during this period. To examine the relationship between household’s assets and income, the OLS regression is used. The explanatory variables include household characteristics such as age of household head, employment days and household size in addition to livelihood asset variables. The results of the regression show that the social capital, employment days and area of fishing are significant contributors to household income in the project areas. On the other hand, the variables such as household size, age of household head and education are significant factors in determining household income in the control areas. The contribution of social capital factors is significant to household income which indicates that these social factors play a very important role in poverty alleviation in Bangladesh.The overall findings of the study provides support for the development of community based fisheries and the investment in enhancing the multidimensional asset base of rural communities to achieve development goals of poverty alleviation and human development

Community based management and sustainable livelihood of island fishers of Bangladesh

This book investigates the impact of community based fisheries management (CBFM) project on household’s welfare in Bangladesh by investigating how the various types of assets contribute to household income. This book describes about the traditional fisheries management approach that exploited the poor fishers. Following this, the book highlights the important factor that contribute to household’s income of poor fisher by utilizing sustainable livehoods approach. This book concludes with policy recommendations for sustainable development of commmunity based approach in the island fisheries of Bangladesh to achieve development goals of poverty alleviation and human development in Bangladesh

Malaysian white shrimp (P. vannamei) aquaculture: an application of stochastic frontier analysis on technical efficiency

Shrimp aquaculture is playing a vital role in Malaysian agriculture, especially its increasing contribution to economic growth. White shrimp aquaculture is not only the key player in brackish water shrimp aquaculture but also the largest contributor to Malaysian shrimp aquaculture. This study estimates technical efficiency and investigates factors affecting technical inefficiency of Malaysian white shrimp aquaculture. Stochastic frontier analysis with trans-log production model is applied in this study. Malaysian white shrimp aquaculture farmers have achieved an estimated average technical efficiency of 81.2 percent. Land ownership, shrimp seed size and seminar are the factors having significant impacts on technical inefficiency and thereby playing important roles in improving technical efficiency of this industry. This study suggests that seminar should be conducted by shrimp farming extension agents to enhance knowledge of shrimp farmers. Malaysian government should allocate lands and, provide technical and financial supports to develop this industry. Subsidy on shrimp seed should be also given to encourage shrimp farmers to embrace and adopt quality shrimp seed for their farms

Household expenditure on food away from home by type of meal in Malaysia

This paper analyses the household food-away-from-home (FAFH) expenditure pattern in Malaysia. For this purpose, the Tobit model was used to quantify the responsiveness of households' expenditure on FAFH to changes in their income and the household characteristics. The results show that households` FAFH expenditure has increased due to rise in income and changing lifestyle. Meanwhile, the household income has statistically significant influence on the FAFH expenditure for all types of meals, except for breakfast, although the FAFH expenditure for breakfast is positive. The positive effect of the total household income shows Malaysian households spent more by eating out as they have to spend more time at work and less time to prepare food at home. Breakfasts and lunches away from home have positive and inelastic income. The results indicate that household members have less choice but to consume breakfast and lunch away from home as their workplaces are usually far away from their homes and thus consume these meals at home are not cost-effective. They have greater flexibility in making decisions whether to consume at home or away from home for dinner and other meal. The estimated conditional and unconditional income elasticity for the households` FAFH expenditure for all types of meals shows that the FAFH expenditures by Malaysian households are income inelastic. This implies that the growth in the FAFH sector will largely be driven by household demographics, ethnic characteristics and region in Malaysia. The government should take appropriate measures to ensure that the meals are of high nutritious values, safe, and reasonably priced

Assessing the impact of marine protected areas: a case study of the Perhentian Marine Park, Malaysia

Malaysia is rich in coral reef ecosystem. The country has 9,323 km of coastline and 3,600km2 of coral reef area. The coral reefs in the marine waters are the important habitats for fish species and destinations of tourists. This sector contributes benefits to the economy and livelihoods of many resource dependent households. The government has established Marine Parks to protect these coral reefs with a goal to conserve the habitats and to protect marine environment and valuable resources. However, fishing is not allowed in the marine protected areas (MPA) confined within two nautical miles from the shore. The marine habitats have been declined considerably over the years due to the use of destructive fishing gears, tourist activities and infrastructural development. The objective of this paper is to explore the importance of marine protected area through a community survey. The survey was conducted in Perhentian Island, east coast of Peninsular Malaysia to obtain opinions of the local people about the resource damage activities and preferences about community programmes. The results of this study are derived from a quota sample of 130 households who were interviewed with structured questionnaire and through informal discussions with various groups. The results showed that there were no major variations in the preference ranking among the various group of respondents. The findings of the study provide useful inputs for the policy makers for the planning and management of marine protected areas in Malaysia

Economic impact of artificial reefs: a case study of small scale fishers in Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia

This paper examines the economic benefits of artificial reefs (ARs) on artisanal fishers in Terengganu in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The data for this study was obtained from interviews with 290 artisanal fishers from three districts of Terengganu, using a structured questionnaire. The study found that for fishers, income from fishing was significantly lower in AR areas, compared to non-AR areas. The income of the fishers who used drift nets as their main fishing gear was significantly lower in AR areas. This indicates that income from fishing was not attributable to the AR programme in Malaysia. The results suggest that artificial reefs may not be effective at increasing catch and income for artisanal fishers in Terengganu. Furthermore, the larger-engined boats gained substantial fishing income, which seems to reflect unequal distribution of benefits, because only those who could invest in fishing equipment and who spent more on fishing operations were able to gain maximum benefits. The results suggest that the current use of multiple gear in the same fishing locations created conflicts between various groups of fishers, and increased fishing costs. These conflicts could be reduced if the artificial reef locations are clearly marked and they established user rights among various fisher groups. The fisheries agencies involved in artificial reefs programme should ensure that artificial reef development produces positive social and economic benefits for the local fishing communities through sustainable fisheries management in Malaysia

Community perspectives of governance for effective management of marine protected areas in Malaysia

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are useful tool for conserving biodiversity and managing fisheries. The government of Malaysia has established several Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to enable overexploited marine resources to recover and to conserve coral reef ecosystems. The paper investigates the effect of governance approach on the effective management of two MPAs, Perhentian and Kapas marine parks in Terengganu State of Peninsular Malaysia. The data for this study was obtained from face-to-face interviews with local people from two MPAs using a structured questionnaire. The results of the analysis show that local participation in MPA management and fisheries regulations are significant factors for the effective MPA management in the study areas. The regression results show that users' participation has contributed significantly to the MPA governance, which indicate that local peoples' participation play an important role for effective management of MPAs in Malaysia. The MPA management activities should be coordinated with other relevant agencies and local users to achieve successful management of MPAs in Malaysia. There is a need to give priority to encourage local fishers' participation in decision making for MPAs management in the future marine resource conservation policy in Malaysia

PLACE ATTACHMENT, HOST TOURISTS’ INTERACTION AND RESIDENT WELCOMING ATTITUDE: A POST COVID-19 ASSESSMENT TOWARDS TOURISM RECOVERY IN LANGKAWI, MALAYSIA

The most recent COVID-19 pandemic has posed a risk to the world economy that has never been seen before. Therefore, the welcoming attitude of the residents in tourist destinations has become a concern for post-COVID-19 tourism recovery. There seem to be many issues concerning the interactions of hosts and tourists as Covid-19 fear exists. Thus, this study aims to examine the role of place attachment and host tourists' attractions on the welcoming attitude of the residents in Langkawi, Malaysia. The researchers conducted a quantitative method and cross-sectional approach in this study. Researchers distributed 600 questionnaires to the respondents in Langkawi, Malaysia, and 461 usable questionnaires were returned and proceeded for further analysis. This study used structural equation modelling to use Smart PLS version 3 software. In structural equation modelling, the measurement and structural model of the study were reported. The study found that place attachment and host tourists interaction play a significant role in maximizing residents' welcoming attitude. The practitioners and academicians will be benefited from the outcome study while exploring tourism recovery strategies and post-Covid tourist arrival

Property rights and access : the case of community based fisheries management in Bangladesh

The complexity of property rights of inland fisheries in Bangladesh was due to the diverse physical characteristics of the water bodies and the multiple stakeholders. The revenue oriented management has failed to involve poor fishers into the fisheries management. A community-based fisheries management (CBFM) system was implemented to ensure fishing rights of the poor, improve productivity and sustainability of fisheries resources through joint action of the fishers. This study investigates the extent of fisher’s access to fishing in the various types of water bodies such as closed beels (deeper depressions in the floodplain), open beels (lake), rivers and floodplains to enhance their livelihoods. Data was obtained from a pair of questionnaire-based field surveys: a baseline study carried out in 2002 and an impact study carried out in mid-2006. A total 2826 households were interviewed comprising of 1994 households at 34 CBFM project water bodies and 832 households at 6 control water bodies were chosen in selected regions in Bangladesh. This study found that the CBFM fishers have obtained greater access to fisheries and improved livelihoods than non-CBFM fishers. The fishers have now changed their attitudes, have greater awareness of fisheries rules and are able to resolve conflicts much easier in the CBFM water bodies. Long term access rights over fisheries resources should thus be considered as the priority for a sustainable inland fishery and livelihoods of fishers in Bangladesh