Social capital : community based fisheries management

Abstract

Globally, community based natural resources management (CBNRM) has emerged as one of the best options for achieving sustainable resource management and economic development in fisheries, as well as forestry and pastoral grazing. Access to natural resources is always keenly contested in the rural economies of developing countries, especially where they are common property resources. Fishers are amongst the poorest people in Bangladesh. Most possess few capital assets, many are landless and have few alternative livelihood options. Their access to lakes, rivers and floodplains is strongly affected by decisions made by the people who control aquatic resources at the local level, particularly the rich and elites. The Community Based Fisheries Management Project is an action research project, which the WorldFish Center has been assisting the Department of Fisheries, Bangladesh to implement over the last ten years. The second phase of the project, CBFM-2, has involved the development and testing of a range of community based and co-management models in 116 water bodies through supporting the development of 130 Community Based Organisations (CBOs) in partnership with 11 NGOs.