Planning and Management Science are two disciplines whose analytical tools are increasingly recognised as indispensable as a fundamental basis for the rational and sustained development of a resource system or resources in a multi-resource use setting such as the Bangladesh fisheries. As such, the study of and training in, especially in the development of skills and competence of manpower in the methods and techniques of modern planning and management are increasingly being given serious attention by many governments. Along this line, the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) has now turned its attention to this important area of manpower development.
The benefits which can accrue from planned fisheries production, development and management can be enormous if a well thought out FISHERIES SECTORAL PLAN can be conceptualised and formulated. In the past, the local fisheries and needs of the fishing communities are not given sufficient attention. This is best summed up by the Bengali saying, “The farmer grows the rice and GOD provides the fish”. Although “rice and fish make a Bengali”, the attitude towards the production of rice and fish is very clear. Consistent with the above philosophy, fish is left to Divine Providence to provide ! Rice cultivation receives all the national attention and assistance (even till this day). It is assumed that fish is naturally abundant and being a living renewable natural resource, it is viewed as an unlimited resource. It is there for the taking without any need to develop nor manage it.
This attitude towards the country's fisheries resources is best portrayed in the Department of Fisheries' philosophy and approach to fish production in the early days. The Directorate of Fisheries as the Department is known then was “solely concerned with fish marketing and fishermen welfare” (Everett, et al, 1985). This clearly means that product disposal and the economic well-being of the fishermen or resource users/harvesters are more important than production, implying that fish availability, i.e resource sustainability is less of a problem.
However, although fisheries resources are renewable, they are definitely subject to overfishing or overexploitation, depletion and detrimental influence of adverse environmental conditions. They are not unlimited or inexhaustable if they are not managed. Modern fisheries development and management, i.e production should be based on a knowledge of the stock size and magnitude, their geophysical distribution, variations in the rates and levels of recruitment and inter- and intra-species interaction/competition.
Similarly, for aquaculture it has to be based on a knowledge of fish production under controlled conditions for which Man can intervene and/or change to provide the optimum conditions or conditions close to optimum for the fish to quickly grow to market or table size in the least cost combination of inputs. Here, the concept of water cultivation, very similar to soil cultivation for agriculture to develop the basis of production must first be clearly understood.
Fish marketing or product disposal is only one aspect of the whole process of fish production. In fact, there is now less and less fish available in the country to dispose off or market. Thus, the sole emphasis on fish marketing and fishermen's welfare in the early days of the Department can partly explain the orientation of the Department's programmes which had evolved over the years. At present, greater importance is and should be attached to increased production and efficient distribution and marketing of fish.
This study therefore aims to provide an analysis of the potentials for and constraints to expanded fisheries production for the country. Myths and misconcepts surrounding fisheries development, management and production will be singled out to show how these have inhibited or misdirected effort to harness the country's aquatic resources for economic development. As experience is gained, this economic planning methodology can be expanded and further improved upon. In other words, this study hopefully will form the nucleus of a more elaborate effort in the future.
Basically, the main objectives of this analysis are to:
aa. analyse the potentials for and constraints to expanded fisheries development (including aquaculture).
bb. identify and recommend possible investment and project ideas and formulate project proposals consistent with the existing national land and water use pattern and capability.
cc. integrate fisheries development within the broad agriculture and water development works now in place without greatly disrupting or impairing the goals of the country's flood control, drainage and irrigation programmes.
dd. determine and suggest possible fisheries and nonfisheries related income-generating or employment opportunities open to the rural communities.
ee. incorporate to the extent possible integrated rural development into inland fisheries and coastal zone management.
ff. bring about a closer working relationship and coordinating mechanism between and among the different ministries and departments which are directly or indirectly involved in fisheries and other aquatic resources management, in particular the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) of the Ministry of Irrigation, Water Development and Flood Control and the Department of Fisheries (DoF) of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.
gg. provide on-the-job training to the staff of the Planning Cells of the Department of Fisheries and Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock as well as Planning Commission on the need for analytical and statistical rigour in economic planning methodology (e.g priority setting and cost projection), analysis of potentials and constraints, demand analysis, production and investment projections, project formulation, project proposal preparation for development plan.
hh. provide the necessary information and basis to enable the country's policy-makers and planners to develop an efficient and sustainable fisheries economy.
The collection and compilation of Bangladesh fisheries statistics on a national scale covering all the different aspects of the fisheries found in the country was first systematically started on a sustained basis in September 1983. Prior to this, such data was collected on an ad-hoc basis and limited in scope. Good fisheries statistics are indispensable in fisheries planning, development and management, including the monitoring and evaluation of the performance of the fisheries, its resource base and the industry it supports.
For some reasons, the paucity of data and reference materials in the country is made even more debilitating to the serious researcher. This is because whatever data and reference materials including mission reports that are available are being “hogged” by the “owner”. Obtaining such data and reports is reportedly like prying a deeply embedded object. This is mainly because copies of such data and reports are NOT printed in larger numbers and more widely circulated.
The chapter on Management Information System for fisheries planning presents more details on the sources of data for planning purposes. Suffice to say that a considerable wealth of information and data exist, mainly the databank maintained by the Fisheries Resources Survey System of the Department.
