First Round Technical Report on Fish Catch and Bio-diversity under HFMLIP - JICA

Abstract

The Haor Flood Management and Livelihood Improvement Project (HFMLIP) has been implementing by LGED in five haor basin districts namely Kishoreganj, Netrokona, Sunamganj, Habiganj and Brahmanbaria. The project is implementing under two components: Component 1: Rural Infrastructure Development; Component 2: Fisheries promotions. Since capture fishery is one of the key income sources of the haor people and LGED and WorldFish has proven experience of community based fisheries management (CBFM), it is effective to implement activities which contribute to increasing productivity together with infrastructure improvement so that living standard of the people in the target areas would be improved. WorldFish is undertaking fish catch, biodiversity and livelihood impact monitoring study under fisheries promotions component. Haors are endowed with enormous fisheries resources in the project area, as a source of income, employment and consumption for the rural poor can hardly be emphasized enough. Fishing is a key livelihood opportunity for most of the households in haor areas and plays an important part in food security and poverty alleviation. In the past as well as in current practices, the management of haor fishery has often excluded poor fishers and encouraged leaseholders to effectively ‘mine’ resources at non-sustainable levels of exploitation.