POVERTY ALLEVIATION THROUGH FISHERIES MANAGEMENT IN BANGLADESH: A RETROSPECTIVE SEARCH

Abstract

Development initiators in Bangladesh often focus on poverty as well as its alleviation strategies. But merely new initiatives recognize the alleviation strategies in retrospect. As a result, progress of poverty alleviation in Bangladesh is questionable. The existing and previous fisheries management strategies were reviewed with special emphasis on poverty issue. In Bangladesh, fisheries rhymes with poverty with the reflection of a complex phenomenon like low income, illness and lack of education, social exclusion, entitlement failure, vulnerability to shocks and political powerlessness. Poverty in the fisheries sector may still exist even in the situation of increase in production of fish. Moreover, disaggregating the poor into economically excluded, politically disempowered and class exploited groups reveals a range of different mechanisms working through an intra-sectoral fisheries dynamics and leading to the impoverishment of a part of the community. Strategically, Government tuned their approach from solely revenue collection with a top down approach to revenue collection with poverty alleviation approach through co-management and community based management practices. But in practice Government rarely ensures the marginal poor fishers’ involvement on the fisheries development activities that ultimately does not influence the poverty eradication level of the poor fishers. In addition to institutional legacy/complexity to disburse allocated fund in time is also an obstacle to achieve success in poverty focused fisheries development initiatives in Bangladesh.