Welfare Impacts and Transaction Costs of Fisheries Co-Management at the Oxbow Lakes (BAORS) in Bangladesh

Fisheries co-management starts with the premise that stakeholders have the innate capacity to improve resource conditions as well as the welfare of the society. Recent investigations have shown that the co-management approach for governing natural resources can result in higher levels of productivity, and lower administration and enforcement costs than the national and centralized management approach. This suggests a need for rapid and substantial evaluation of fisheries management institutions. The main purpose of this study was to examine the economic performance of the fisheries co-management institution in the Oxbow Lake fisheries of Bangladesh. Firstly, this study examined net welfare change to society as a result of the introduction of a co-management system. Secondly. the resource rent and transaction costs analyses were used to evaluate the efficiency of the co-managed institution compared to the centralized management institution. The simultaneous equation model consisting of supply, demand and identity equations were estimated and Marshallian surplus measurement was used to estimate the welfare change with and without the co-management system. A cross-sectional heteroskedastic and time wise autoregressive model proposed by Kmenta (1986) was utilized for the estimation. The analysis showed that the co-management program had caused a welfare gain to society amounting to 1805186 Tk (USD 38989) from the original situation. Both consumers and producers gained by the project intervention, however, consumer welfare gain was bigger valued at 1762399 Tk (USD 38065) than that of producers valued at 42787 Tk (USD 924). The Oxbow Lake co-management system had also resulted in higher rent of 19802 Tk/ha (USD 427 per ha), compared to the rent in government managed Lakes of 5652 Tk/ha (USD 122 per ha). The results also showed that return to capital and labor was also high in most of the co-managed Lakes compared to the government-managed Lakes. Static and dynamic processes were utilized in this study to measure the transaction costs of fisheries management. The results presented in this thesis showed that transaction costs of managing the fisheries were lower under a c0- management arrangement i.e. 2938 Tk/ha (USD 63 per ha) than the centralized management system of 4707 Tk/ha (USD 102 per ha). The results from the analysis showed a better performance for the co-managed Lakes compared to the government-managed Lakes. The findings revealed that the lower transaction costs and higher resource rents are the result of the increased legitimacy inherent in the co-management system. This increased legitimacy encouraged fishers to develop cooperative approaches for effective management of the Oxbow Lakes

Communication strategies for managing coastal fisheries conflicts in Bangladesh

Fisheries management involves balancing the competing demands of different users of fishery resources.Conflicts among fisheries stakeholders arise due to differences in power, interests, values, priorities, and manner of resource exploitation.Conflicts also emanate from institutional failures in managing fisheries and enforcing laws and regulations.Effective targeted communication has a key role to play in managing conflicts between fisheries stakeholders.This paper assesses a fisheries conflict communication framework called FishCom, a tool for developing plans and strategies for managing conflicts in coastal fisheries in Bangladesh. FishCom is a structured participatory process intended for use by policymakers and fishery managers.The results show that effective communication plans can play a significant role in eliminating conflicts

Can aquaculture benefit the extreme poor? A case study of landless and socially marginalized Adivasi (ethnic) communities in Bangladesh

AbstractThe Adivasi Fisheries Project, aimed at diversifying livelihood options for resource-poor Adivasi (ethnic) communities in the North and Northwest of Bangladesh, was implemented during 2007–9. Aquaculture and related technologies were introduced to a total of 3594 resource-poor Adivasi households. Baseline and end-line surveys were applied to assess the changes in their livelihoods following intervention. Household incomes of project participants rose significantly (p≤0.01), which was attributed to the increased share of aquaculture and related enterprises from 15% in 2007 to nearly 30% in 2009 in terms of annual household incomes. By contrast, the contribution of aquaculture to household incomes remained virtually unchanged (p>0.05) among non-project participants. The monthly frequency of fish, meat and egg consumption increased between 2007 and 2009 (p≤0.01), confirming improved food and nutrition security among project participants. Although non-project participants also slightly increased their fish consumption, it remained significantly lower (p≤0.01) than that of the project participants. The results from the present study contradict the prevailing view that aquaculture is inappropriate for landless, socially marginalized and extremely poor communities by demonstrating its relevance to improving livelihoods, provided that a diversified approach is followed and interventions are tailored to needs and capabilities of target households

Welfare Impacts of Fisheries Co-management System at Oxbow Lakes in Bangladesh

Fisheries co-management starts with the premise that stakeholders have the innate capacity to improve resource condition as well as the welfare of the society. If this is true, there is a need for rapid and substantial devolution of fisheries management institutions. The main purpose of this study was to examine net welfare change to society as a result of the co-management system at Oxbow Lakes in Bangladesh. The simultaneous equation model consisting of supply, demand and identity equations were estimated and Marshallian surplus measurement was used to estimate the welfare change before and after the co-management system. The pooling technique proposed by Kmenta (1971; 1986) was utilized for the estimation. The analysis showed that the co-management program had caused a welfare gain to society.Key words: Fisheries co-management, Oxbow Lake, Producer Surplus, Consumer Surplu

The Structure, Conduct, and Performance of the Midstream Segments of the Aquaculture Value Chain in Bangladesh

The presentation talked about the comprehensive statistically representative study of 329 aquatic product traders in 31 markets from seven districts in south and southwest Bangladesh between January and May 2021to look into the organization and behavior of actors in these segments of the aquaculture value chain in Bangladesh

The Structure, Conduct, and Performance of the Midstream Segments of the Aquaculture Value Chain in Bangladesh

Abstract accepted for presentation at the Annual Meeting of the World Aquaculture Society held in Singapore on 29 November to 2 December 2022. The presentation discussed the comprehensive statistically representative study of 329 aquatic product traders in 31 markets from seven districts in south and southwest Bangladesh between January and May 2021to look into the organization and behavior of actors in these segments of the aquaculture value chain in Bangladesh

Harnessing Machine Learning to Estimate Aquaculture’s Contributions to the Economy of Southwest Bangladesh

Abstract accepted for presentation at the Annual Meeting of the World Aquaculture Society held in Singapore on 29 November to 2 December 2022. The presentation detailed the use of machine learning techniques to extract information from freely available satellite images and estimate the area of waterbodies used for aquaculture in seven districts in southern Bangladesh, one of country’s most important aquaculture zones producing fish for domestic markets and crustaceans for export

Harnessing Machine Learning to Estimate Aquaculture’s Contributions to The Economy of Southwest Bangladesh

The presentation detailed the use of machine learning techniques to extract information from freely available satellite images and estimate the area of waterbodies used for aquaculture in seven districts in southern Bangladesh, one of country’s most important aquaculture zones producing fish for domestic markets and crustaceans for export. The research combined machine learning derived estimates of aquaculture farm area per district with data from statistically representative farm surveys to estimate farm size, productivity, and total output, economic value of production, on-farm employment generation by gender, and demand for formulated and non-formulated feeds

The impact of integrated aquaculture-agriculture on small-scale farm sustainability and farmers' livelihoods: Experience from Bangladesh

Intensification of agriculture often requires external inputs, has negative environmental effects and increases risk, especially for small-scale producers. Integrated aquaculture-agriculture (IAA) instead uses on-farm synergy effects of crop and fish production. The impact of long-term IAA training provided to small-scale farmers in Bangladesh is assessed using panel data from 260 project and 126 control farmers who were monitored from 2002/2003 to 2005/2006. We find that the training had a significant positive impact on farmers' technical efficiency, total factor productivity and net incomes. These result in higher food consumption and better nutrition for trained households compared to control farmers.Integrated aquaculture-agriculture Technical efficiency Farm productivity Food security Nutrition Asia