FISHING ACTIVITIES OF ARTISANAL FISHERS AND THEIR SOCIOECONOMIC FEATURES IN THE SUNDARBANS MANGROVE FOREST OF BANGLADESH

The Sundarbans is one of the world’s largest mangrove forests located in the delta of rivers Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna on the Bay of Bengal. It has varied natural resources comprising unique flora and fauna. However, this potential ecosystem is yet fully explored, assessed, managed and utilized in Bangladesh. Because of this, we investigated the socioeconomic features and fishing activities of the artisanal fishers in the mangrove forest of the Sundarbans. Despite the immense importance of mangroves to the livelihood of artisanal fishermen in the Sundarbans, deforestation continues due to illegal logging and deterioration of habitat due to climate change, increased salinity, natural disasters, shrimp farming etc. These natural and anthropogenic hazards are not only causing havoc to the mangrove biodiversity but also depleting fishery resources, changes in fisher's key occupations and affecting their livelihood status. The present investigation also elicited several risks to the livelihood of fishermen, viz., the attack by dacoits, ransom, hostage, and attack by tigers, river and coastal erosion, and natural disasters. Nevertheless, the artisanal fishers applied different strategies to cope with the changing situations by forming associations, violating the fisheries rules and regulations, migrating, distributing, sharing responsibilities with the household members, and transmitting local ecological, environmental and conservational knowledge. This investigation revealed an urgent need to upgrade the existing policies and management strategies toward the sustainable extraction and utilization of the mangrove resources for the livelihood improvement of artisanal fishermen in the Sundarbans.