This is heart-breaking to see struggles of hundreds and thousands of poor artisanal fishers. The increased level of unjust treatment and oppression that artisanal fishers have experienced in recent years in the name of hilsa conservation is concerning.
The government’s heavy-handed enforcement has for two decades severely impacted the well-being of the fishers. During closing seasons, most fishing families struggle to manage food and many starve. In a few cases in recent years, fishers have lost their lives in encounters with the law enforcement agencies.
One among the fishers deceased this way was Masud. In March 2021, the police shot Masud in the River Meghna River near Chandpur. Masud was 22 years old. He left behind his pregnant wife and a son. The younger boy, born after his father’s death, is now three years old.
The family did not even have a handful of rice after the morning Masud had been shot dead in the river.
The police have not as yet made public any details of the investigation about how the situation unfolded during the encounter or why the police, who were patrolling in a speed boat, had to shoot in self-defence.
But the family of the deceased say that the police have implicated Masud, his brother and other fishers in a criminal case, accusing them of attacking the police.
Masud’s father says that his younger son was subjected to ‘inhuman torture’ for a confessional statement. Masud’s mother breaks down in tears whenever she talks about her sons. She says that her youngest was still recovering from police torture.
In two decades, subjecting fishers, starving or in debt, to excessive force and imprisoning them have become main pillars of the hilsa conservation management. Now that the fishers and livestock ministry plans to carry out its initiative to conserve the spawning hilsa this year, it is not known whether there are any safeguards in place to save them from the of excessive force.
If the government does not change its approach, a heavy-handed enforcement during the closing season could obviously result. The fisheries department will seek help of the Armed Police Battalion, the Coast Guard and the navy to patrol fishing grounds.
The air force might conduct aerial surveillance as it did before. Thousands of fishers would be fined and sent to prisons after summary trial by administrative officials. And, fishers would need to borrow money from local lenders for survival or would go hungry during the closing season.
But we hope that the government would change its approach. The fisheries and livestock ministry should ask when hilsa catch is now the single largest in catch of fish and has a greater economic value, why are the fishing families ultra-poor or poor?
Official estimates say that the reported catch in overall open water fisheries has steadily increased over the past decade. But does this have a reflection on the lives of the fishers?
We should move away from any heavy-handed enforcement to ensure that the fishers receive a fair share of the sector’s income. Such a change can potentially alleviate poverty in fishing communities.
Bangladesh needs a collective stewardship of fishers, fish-workers, traders and local communities to pave the way for sustainability, equity and justice in the sector.
Something more than mere distribution of to fishers as ration under the vulnerable group feeding programme is required during closing seasons. If fishers are still vulnerable, which they are during the closing seasons, how can the government expect them to survive on rice? And, because of administrative corruption, most fishers are alleged to have been excluded from the list of rice distribution. The people who get the ration do not get a half of what is officially allocated.
The struggle of fishers to secure rice ration and and the exclusion of many of them from such programmes are a stark reminder of the fragility and unsustainability of open-water fisheries. It highlights the need for equitable income distribution in the sector. We should reform the fisheries supply chain to ensure that artisanal fishers receive their fair share of the income from the sector.
One way to support fishers is the payment for ecosystem services in exchange for contribution to conservation. The government should also fight corruption in fisheries enforcement that takes fishers’ income away. Fishers are forced to pay monthly extortion to the police around the year. So, how do the fish or the fishers benefit from fisheries enforcement?
Almost every year in the past decade, we are told that that catch in open-water fisheries is increasing. This implies that the increase in catch should is considered a success without taking into account other vital indicators and considerations.
The success in this case is keeping the catch volume compatible with the present estimates and the future projection of the fish population. We should also consider the impact of fishing on aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity to measure success because ecologically low-impact fisheries are the successful ones.
In countries such as Bangladesh, where the main strength of open-water fisheries is artisanal fishers, the leading indicators of success should be their safe livelihood, an improved standards of life and well-being.
Bangladesh needs a purpose-built and capable fisheries management organisation where fishers are represented. We are all informed of the success of the fisheries department in promoting fish farming. However, promoting fish farming and representing the government in the conservation management of open-water fisheries are fundamentally different roles.
Artisanal fishers are the lifeblood of open-water fisheries. Their lives, livelihood and culture are deeply intertwined with fishing. So, the foundation of conservation management should be a multi-party collaboration led by organisations of fishers, fish-workers and traders. And, we need a capable agency that can represent the government in such a collaborative fisheries management organisation.
In the short term, we want the government to stop using excessive force on fishers and take measures to prevent corruption in fisheries enforcement. Administrative officials should also stop handing down fisheries prison sentences in summary trials in ‘mobile courts’. The discussion on how to make payment for ecosystem services for fishers should start soon.