Bangladesh's compensation scheme can be model for other countries

Bangladesh's initiative of compensating fishermen for not catching brood fish in a certain period of time in particular areas to boost up fish stocks could be a model for fisheries of other nations that are experiencing decline in the number of fish species, says an international study.
The study termed it a rare example of "payments for ecosystem services" (PES) that Bangladesh's government has implemented to conserve the threatened species that feed millions of Bangladeshis.
London based organisation International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) will release the study, "Direct Economic Incentives for Sustainable Fisheries Management-The Case Study of Hilsa Conservation in Bangladesh", today, says a press release.
"Bangladesh's pioneering model of payments to compensate fishing communities has much to teach other nations that face declines in their fish stocks due to overfishing and environmental change," says co-author Dr Essam Yassin Mohammed of the IIED.
However, the study recommends five measures which could further boost the hilsa stock.
These include better understanding of the socio-economic and ecological systems, identifying the beneficiaries and ways that can make the scheme financially sustainable, empowering local fishing communities, identifying how fisher communities would prefer to receive their compensation packages and redesign them accordingly, and improving cooperation between the Bangladesh, India and Myanmar, which share the Bay of Bengal. The researchers also advise channelling a portion of revenues generated from hilsa export into a conservation trust fund.
"Most governments use regulations to manage their fisheries, but Bangladesh has combined this stick with the carrot of compensation," said another co-author Prof Abdul Wahab from Bangladesh Agricultural University.
The scheme is a rare example of "payments for ecosystem services" (PES) from a fishery. "What makes it doubly rare is that the government developed and funded the scheme without donor assistance," states the report.
Hilsa, the national fish of Bangladesh, once abundant in the Bay and hundreds of rivers in Bangladesh, India and Myanmar, has declined steeply in numbers since the 1970s, largely because of overfishing.
In Bangladesh, hilsa stocks increased after the government made it illegal for anyone to catch them in five important spawning grounds during its breeding season. To compensate fishing households for lost incomes, the government provided 30 kilograms of rice per month and promoted alternative livelihoods.