Openwater Fisheries of Bangladesh

Open water fisheries are major aquatic common property resources in Bangladesh covering over four million hectares. Around ten percent of the population of 120 million depend for their livelihoods on fisheries. Fish is the main source of animal protein, particularly for the poor. The wetlands of Bangladesh are an interplay of social, environmental, resource management and developmental concerns. There are conflicting demands on the wetlands. The demand for agricultural production, particularly cereals, encourages attempts to dry out the wetlands with a reduction in the open water areas and its fisheries resources. Bangladesh possesses a wide range of fishes, prawns and turtles inhabiting in its extensive inland open waters. The fish populations and stocks were under threat of depletion due to indiscriminate and uncontrolled harvesting. This situation has further been complicated by the physical loss shrinkage and modification of aquatic habitats for fishes, prawns, turtles and other aquatic organisms. There is very little structured literature about this socially, economically, nutritionally and environmentally important living resource. Further, the limited existing literature is scattered mostly inaccessible project reports. Thus an urgent need has been felt to pull together the best information in an accessible way. In fourteen chapters, this book addresses the issues of the ecosystem and resources, history, sociology, economics and marketing, fish biology and biodiversity, environment, technology and policy concerns.