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Bangladesh is a country dominated by wetlands and the flooding cycle of its main rivers. Over half of the country is floodplain and many households depend on fishing in the floodplains, rivers and lakes (locally referred to as beels) for income and food. This is particularly important for poorer households as they have few options for income generation.

Despite the importance of these resources, the inland capture fisheries sector has been neglected. Development policies have favoured agriculture and in the fisheries sector aquaculture has been heavily promoted. This has often been to the detriment of wild fisheries, for example where waterbodies have been pumped dry on an annual basis to irrigate rice, or flood control structures have been built to protect crops but act as a barrier to fish migrations.

The government owns a large part of the aquatic resources, in particular, over 12,000 productive public waterbodies (mainly closed beels and open beels) designated as fisheries (jalmahals). These are managed using a revenue orientated leasing system where the highest bidder secures access for the following 1 to 3 years. Unfortunately this encourages exploitative fishing practices as there is no incentive to preserve stocks for future years.

The CBFM project was designed to test alternative management systems where control is handed over to community groups for an extended period and with the assistance of the WorldFish Center, the Department of Fisheries and partner NGOs they would have the opportunity to benefit from sustainably managed fisheries.

The CBFM approach helps improve the livelihoods of fishers and poor communities (23000 direct beneficiaries). It simultaneously addresses the environmental issues and improved fisheries resources in terms of production, diversity and sustainability.

CBFM-1 worked with 20 waterbodies and communities, ending up with 15 that continued beyond the end of the project in 1999. CBFM-2 was designed to test whether the approach could be extended to a wider range of waterbody types. Starting in 2001, and supported by the UK development aid organisation DFID, this was to be the largest invention of its type, world-wide. 120 waterbodies were identified including jalmahals and private fisheries. By 2006, this had reduced to 116 waterbodies involving 136 community based organisations. Eleven partner NGOs were involved in implementation, including two specialist NGOs for legal and communications support.

Although implementation of community based approaches was a major focus of project activities and this was managed by the Department of Fisheries (DoF) and the WorldFish Center, the main aim of the project was still research based. It was to test management systems, to demonstrate conclusively whether community based approaches actually do result in more sustainable fisheries and if they can enhance poor people’s livelihoods. This placed the project in a unique position as, in contrast to similar development orientated projects, it has been possible to commit sufficient resources to clearly answer the question: Do community based fisheries management approaches really work?

The other goal was to ensure that the positive lessons learnt from application of community managed approaches are taken up by policy makers to effect a change in the way fisheries are managed in Bangladesh.
This web-site contains key project documents and communications products from CBFM-2 to act as a resource for anyone with an interest in community based approaches or fisheries management.

The project was due to close in August 2006, however it has been extended until March 2007. The good news is that through the efforts of CBFM-2 and similar projects in Bangladesh such as MACH and the Fourth Fisheries Project, community managed approaches now feature in official strategies and action plans for the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock and in the fisheries section and action plan of the PRSP. This should mean that the 10 years of work in this field by CBFM staff and partners will leave a lasting positive impact on the fisheries of Bangladesh and the people who depend on them.