Islam, Gazi Md. Nurul, Abdullah, Nik Mustapha Raja, Viswanathan, K. Kuperan, and Tai Shzee Yew. 2006. "Augmenting Fishers' Welfare and Livelihood Assets through Community Based Management in Bangladesh." Presented at "Survival of the Commons: Mounting Challenges and New Realities," the Eleventh Conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property, Bali, Indonesia, June 19-23, 2006.

Abstract

"This study investigates the impact of Community Based Fisheries Management (CBFM) on fishing households' welfare in Bangladesh by examining how the various types of livelihood assets contribute to household incomes. The CBFM projects have been implemented in Bangladesh since 1995, through the partnership of Department of Fisheries (government organization), 9 NGOs and the WorldFish Center, with about 113 waterbodies and more than 23,000 households living around the project sites. The major objective of CBFM is to establish local fishery community organizations by providing credit facilities, training and by promoting social awareness with an aim to enhance poor fishers' capability of greater access to their livelihood assets. A survey of 240 households in Bangladesh was conducted to obtain information from fishers at CBFM and non CBFM sites (control sites). A livelihood assets framework is utilized and a regression model is used to analyze the factors that contribute to household income of poor fishers. The study found that fishers in CBFM areas have improved their access to different assets including social, human, physical, financial and natural capitals. The regression results show that the contribution of social capital is significant to household income, indicating that social factors play very important roles in poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. Future poverty alleviation policy options need to give priority to investments in human, physical and natural capital assets."