4. INFRASTRUCTURE OF FRI

4.1 Facilities

(41) The World Bank appraisal mission (1983) was entrusted with the task to design a Fisheries Research Institute, using as much as possible existing facilities of the Directorate of Fisheries. This lead to:

• spreading of the research activities over 5 different places;
• location of the Headquarters in Chandpur, where one building was destined to be vacated.

(42) This set-up met quite some criticism from various sides, mainly for the following reasons:

• the excentric place of the Headquarters additionally hampers operation and management;
• the excentric place of the Headquarters decreases possibilities for communication with GOB, donor agencies, other institutes, and universities;
• the excentric place of the Headquarters obstructs international co-operation.

During the first year of operation, FRI indeed faced the difficulties mentioned above, and therefore the Board of Governors has decided to shift the Headquarters to Mymensingh, where these problems where expected to be smaller.

(43) The following research stations were originally envisaged:

• Freshwater Aquaculture Research Station (FARS), Mymensingh;
• Brackishwater Fisheries Research Station (BFRS), Khulna;
• Riverine Fisheries Research Station (RFRS), Chandpur;
• Marine Fisheries and Mariculture Research Station (MFRS), Cox's Bazar;
• Fisheries Technology Research Station (FTRS), Chittagong.

FARS (see (25)) and RFRS (see (27)) are existing facilities that are transferred to FRI already. MFRS is also an existing facility, but is still under the umbrella of DOF. BFRS and FTRS do not exist at present.

(44) The Freshwater Aquaculture Research Station(FARS), Mymensingh, will physically be completed before July, 1987 (DANIDA project). Funds will be searched for a special building for FRI-Headquarters, with ample training facilities and a central documentation and public relation unit. Co-operation with BAU will be developed as intensive as possible.

(45) The research at FARS will contain the following programmes (see also Annexes A and C):

• Integrated aquaculture;
• Fish reproduction and hatchery production;
• Pond production systems development;
• Fish feed and nutrition;
• Fish pathology;
• Socio economic studies.

(46) The Riverine Fisheries Research Station (RFRS), Chandpur, will be upgraded under the present Agricultural Research II Project. Plans for repair and improvement of physical facilities as well as for purchase of equipment are well underway.

(47) The research at RFRS will contain the following programmes (see Annexes A and C):

• Riverine production ecology;
• Reproduction and culture of riverine species;
• Paddy-cum-fish culture;
• Production in large waterbodies;
• Pen and cage culture.

Thereabove, the existing hatchery will be used for fry production, in the first years of carps and later on for special products (based on research outcomes). A nutritional research project was already alloted to RFRS by BARC; this project will be integrated as far as possible with the overall programme on fish feed and nutrition at FARS.

(48) The Brackishwater Fisheries Research Station (BFRS), Khulna, will be developed under the present Agricultural Research II Project. Site selection will be completed before October 1986, and detailed planning of projects and facilities is underway. A preliminary list of research programmes is presented in Annex C; a more detailed list has been presented in IA-report No 5 of this series. It is the intention to start actual construction of the station in the winter of 1986–87, and to initiate on-station research one year later.

(49) Part of the high-priority research programmes will start before the station is built. Surveys of Macrobrachium and development of systems for its reproduction and culture can be carried out from Chandpur. Surveys and other work on penaeid shrimps might be carried out from the BOBP Shrimp Demonstration Farm in Satkhira. An advice regarding the use of the BOBP-farm is included in TA-report 5.

(50) The Marine Fisheries and Mariculture Research Station (MFRS), Cox's Bazar, will be taken over by FRI upon completion of the present UNDP project in 1987. In the winter of 1986–87 a detailed research programme will be drafted, based on perspectives of the work carried out presently, on national priorities in marine fisheries and mariculture, and on development projects in the marine sector. A preliminary list of research programmes is presented in Annex C.

(51) The Fisheries Technology Research Station (FTRS), Chittagong, is mentioned in the PP, but its development perspectives are not yet clear. Discussions on its foundation (or on housing technology research projects in the relevant other stations) are underway.

(52) Originally, the facilities transferred to FRI (in Mymensingh and, to a lesser extent, Chandpur) had an important production objective. When production facilities are used for research, production can never be optimal (research includes risks), but it is not expected that all of them will be occupied by the research work. Especially hatching and nursing facilities are so spacious, that the stations can continue to produce fry and fingerlings for farmers. This production is a rather short seasonal activity for which experienced staff is needed. As it does not seem appropriate to employ special staff for this activity, it is envisaged to include it as much as possible in the work programme of the regular staff and to mingle the production as much as possible with research activities. For this reason hatchery production objectives are listed analogous to research projects in the stations' programmes (Annex A).

4.2 Organization

(53) As prescribed in the FRI Ordinance, the Institute is supervised by a Board of Governors. The composition of the Board is also laid down in the Ordinance. The tasks of the Board include supervision of activities and progress of FRI as well as confirmation of management rules and research programmes.

(54) For reasons of cost-effectiveness the Headquarters of FRI will remain relatively small. Scientific work proper will be done at the research stations. The tasks or the Headquarters of FRI are:

• to build up and develop the research stations and the research organization;
• to manage the research conducted at the research stations;
• to co-ordinate the activities of FRI with those of other research institutions (institutes, universities, development projects);
• to advise GOB with respect to fishery research, training and extension, and management of living aquatic resources;
• to channel research findings to the extension service.

(55) An organogramme for the Headquarters is presented in Fig. 2, and is based on the PP. The responsibilities of the management are also described in the PP in detail; for the time being it has been decided to follow that set-up completely.

(56) In Fig. 3 the relationship between the Headquarters and the research stations is shown. Fig. 3 is based on the present facilities.

Fig. 2 Organogramme of FRI Headquarters

(57) In Fig. 3 also the typical organogramme of the research stations is presented. The structure of this organogramme is strictly homologous to that of the Headquarters: the station chief (CSO) has the overall responsibility for the station and he supervises the research programmes directly. For the administration and support services he has a Deputy Director at his disposal. Through this set-up there is a relatively short management line from the Director FRI towards the actual research programmes, whereas on the other hand interference of research with administrative affairs is blocked as much as possible.

It is expected that this construction can bring new research priorities quickly included in the workplans of the scientists. At the same time scientists are not bothered by all kinds of administrative and financial procedures that are not directly related to their individual projects.

(58) The research programmes themselves are all headed by a teamleader (TL) or principal investigator (PI). The teamleadership is a research-oriented function; it has nothing to do with the actual position of the individual officers. A teamleader can be a PSO, an SSO, or even an SO, dependent of the weight, area, and further staffing of the research programme concerned.

The tasks of the teamleader, next to implementation of his individual research project, will include co-ordination of the work in research projects in his programme, as well as programme reporting (see (74) and (80)).

(59) All staffing for the Headquarters and Research Stations has been described in detail in the PP. For the time being, it seems that these provisions cover reasonably the needs of FRI, albeit that the number of laboratory and field assistants and of guards is on the low side. This is especially true for BFRS; TA-report No 5 specifies the needs for 10 extra asistants, 24 extra attendants and 6 extra guards. The PP will be revised in this respect in the course of 1987.

Fig. 3. Organogramme of FRI

4.3 Funding

(60) The funding of land acquisition and civil works for FRI Headquarters and Stations will be covered by the GOB and IDA budgets as specified in the PP. Actual detailed budgets will be presented in the detailed plans for each of the research programmes, that will appear in the course of 1986–87.

(61) For the repair and purchase of equipment, machineries and vehicles also funds from GOB and IDA are specified in the PP, that can be supplemented with funds from other sources (DANIDA, IDRC, USAID). Detailed specification of equipment is underway.

(62) In the present report funding of the research itself (operational expenses) is covered, albeit in very general terms (see Annex A): detailed budgets for the research projects are still being prepared. It is the intention to limit the total amount of operational expenses (all projects) to the amount of money available in reality. When more funds are required for a certain project, that project will be phased out over a longer time-span, or specific additional sources of funds will be looked for.

(63) For the operational expenses of FRI (administration plus research) the following funds are presently available:

• GOB: 87.13 Lakh Taka until June 30, 1989 (IDA - PP), plus 20.72 Lakh Taka until June 30, 1987 (DANIDA - PP), plus approx. 31.00 Lakh Taka until March 31, 1989 (IDRC - PP) (total: approx. 138.85 Lakh Taka), minus the amount spent already. A part of this budget will be used for recurrent overhead costs;
• IDA: 92.31 Lakh Taka until June 30, 1989, minus the amount spent already. A part of this budget will be used for recurrent overhead costs;
• DANIDA: 30.45 Lakh Taka until June 30, 1987, minus the amount spent already;
• IDRC: 15.55 Lakh Taka, exclusively for the riverine fisheries research;
• BARC Contract Research scheme: 470.40 Lakh Taka is allocated to fisheries research (at FRI and elsewhere), including capital costs;
• USAID: PL-480 funds upon request through BARC; no definite allocation to fisheries research;
• FRI: income from sales of fry, fingerlings, and foodfish (see (66)); no realistic estimation yet to be made.

(64) Although only budget estimates are available for the research programmes as yet (see Annex A), a general allocation of available funding sources is presented in Table 4. Contract Research funds are the main source; as explained in (39) FRI's programmes have been designed to meet the general criteria for these funds. Other sources (FRI income, PL 480) could contribute temporary.

(65) As has been specified in (52) the FRI facilities will partly be used for production of fry and fingerlings. Moreover, many of the research projects will have fish, shrimp, ducks, or other crops as subsidiary results. All these products will be sold. Since FRI is an autonomous body, the sales income does not have to flow into the Treasury, but can be used for strengthening FRI's own position. It is logic to use that income as far as possible to ensure the continuation of that income; it should be spend for maintenance of production and research facilities and for operational expenses for hatchery- and production-oriented research projects.

Marketing of the products from the research stations should not be left to the research staff; all activities that are not directly related to their research task will decrease progress and limit the efficiency of FRI. Marketing can be handled by the Support Services section of the station concerned, but in fact these sections are not staffed for such peak activities in the present staffing schedules. Therefore it might be considered to involve a third (private) party in the marketing of all salable products of FRI. Provided that the Board of Governors approves such involvement soon, its implementation can be worked out definitely before the 1987 production season (see also TA-report No 8 in this series).

Table 4 - Research programmes of FRI and their source of fund

4.4 Technical assistance

(66) Setting up a new institute is not a simple task, especially during the first few years. Practically all aspects of organization, management, backstopping, and evaluation have to be dealt with, whereas simultaneously construction and purchasing activities have to proceed. Moreover, most of the (young) scientists that are expected to carry out fisheries research are unexperienced and, to a certain extent, not well aware of what has been achieved elsewhere in their (new) fields of specialization. To overcome a very slow start of FRI and to guide the scientists through their first years, an extensive Technical Assistance (TA) programme is available.

Fig. 4. Organogramme of FRI (present situation), including Technical Assistance.

(67) Fig. 4 shows, that TA is provided to all levels of FRI. This Figure is based on the present facilities, but the picture will not change in the revised set-upof the Institute.

The Headquarters of FRI will be assisted by specialists in:

• planning and monitoring of research (at the Directorate);
• training of researchers, and development of publication and documentation systems (at the Research Wing);
• development of budgetting and accounting systems (at the Support Services Wing);
• site selection for the Brackishwater Research Station (at the Support Services Wing).

(68) The Research Stations will be assisted on the management level, as well as on the technical level in the research programmes themselves. For this purpose a team of short- and long-term, national and expatriate specialists have been planned under various financial schemes, but in good mutual consultation. An overview of all planned specialists is presented in Table 5, with the duration of each assignment, the funding source, and the main counterpart section(s) in FRI.

(69) In Table 5 two positions have been included for which no funding is available: a long-term research guide for the Brackishwater Fisheries Research Station, and a comparable post for the Marine Fisheries and Mariculture Research Station. It is felt that they will be needed for the first 2 - 3 years of operation of these stations. The need is increased by the fact that the programmes concerned include new areas of research for Bangladesh, for which no national expertise is available as yet. Donors should be invited to provide funds for this TA, as well as for a part of the operational expenses of these two stations during their first years.

Table 5 - Technical Assistance for FRI