Marine Tenure and Small-Scale Fisheries: Learning from the Bangladesh Experience and Recommendations for the Hilsa Fishery

Image

This desk study provides a summary of the Bangladesh experience in small-scale fisheries and marine tenure and addresses the following questions:

• Is there a model for tenure/co-management arrangements in the Bangladesh that can be applied to the hilsa shad, a migratory species whose life cycle requires river, estuarine, and marine ecosystems?
• What are examples of tenure/co-management arrangements that have been applied/worked for this type of fish species?
• Does Bangladesh have a legal/institutional enabling framework to support these arrangements?
• Is tenure/co-management an appropriate approach for this species, based on experience in Bangladesh and elsewhere?
• What types of interventions should ECOFISH focus on?
• What types of approaches should USAID focus on? What are implications to the broader fishery of the management options if it focuses on one particular migratory species?