Effects of small scale water development projects of fisheries

Abstract

The complex community of fj<;h~pecies in Bangladesh is Ilighly dependent on sea"onal inundation and on 1100dplain access, both of which can be negatively affccltd by flood Contl'Ol, Drainage and lrrig.ation (feD!) project. %WRDSP, with thc aim of 1100d control. drainage ami irriga(ion has been inlroduced III Banglaue,h (first phase durmg 1996.2002) hy LGED, This smdy was carricd out w'th the "hjeClivCI of finding om Ihe change in pattern and amount of n,h prodUCII(lndue to implementa(lon of these subproje<;t", e,alualing thc performance of fish t!'lendly ~trudure aml identifying the factors re'pomihle for success/failure ,)1' SSWRDSP. To perform the sludy, four subprojects in Khulna and 5atkhira dlsmct:; hav~ bcen sekcted, The study wa" ~arrieJ Out on th~ basis of both prmlary and secondary diHa.DilTerflll inJicators (In area of f'sherie<;, fi"h 'pecics, fLsllproducllon and f"heTS llavt been LlleJ to evaluatc the performance of ,he subproject, in fi,heries Jcvdopmem. The lear 1999 has been CllnsidereJ as lhe prc-prClcct and 2004 a~ the pmt project sl\ldy years, Uoth the numbtr of species and pnJduction of caprure fi,hery have been dtcreased in all the subpn.>jectsstudied due to the huge 10" of Dood plain habitat during the period 1999- '201)4, The captLlJ1Cfishery of Khorda [Jam FCD subproject and 8agaehra-Badurgaclla FCD subprojeet has tolaily been lo,t In Sonal Khal fC and we subpn.>ject and Narayankh~1i FeD sLlbprojtct the productim\ of capture fLshery hal been Jecrcased by 91.5% and 87.8% rcspcctivdy, Different fish species have beeome rare ill ail lhe subproject,. Unlike capture fi~hery, the cultutc fisheries In mOIlof the subprojects have increa,ed due to Implementallon of the project. Tmal fIsh pmduetion of Khorda Baor has mcreased by 49% during the penod 1999-2004 due to ti"h cultivmion. In spile of the lntroduetion of culrure fisher) m a few heeUlres of khas Khal in Sonai Khal subproject the !(Ital fish production (capture +culture) has been decreased h)' 60,8% due 10ImplemelltatlOn of !he project The culrure and tmal fish productions of Bagacnm-Badurgacha subproje<;tha,'e been increased by 13.1% ami 8.9% respectlvel)' The production of cultLlre tlshe~ of Narayankhah suhproje~t h~s incrcased by 7.1U% but th" total production has decreaseu by 40.1% due l()the loss of cap lure fisher)' 'l"h~ number of t1sh cullivalor, of all thc projects has inereaseJ but thc number of fishermcll has decreased ill all "uhprcjccts. The number of fi,h cultivators has increased by 20-85 persons during the p~rioJ 1999.2004. Wherea, lhe number of pan-time and full lime fishernlen has Jecreased by JO-50persons. The concept of fish friendly structLlre was adopted in the regulalOr of KIlo,da Bam subproje,t to safeguard ilS open waler fisherie,. Iniliaily good rerum (If lhis structure was found bm unforttlnately il has become inacnve mainly with the change III lea,eholder of the pf()jecl since 2003, The water qualilies of !he four subprojects studied are suitable for fi,h cultivation except in Narayankhali FCD subproject, which ha~ experienced severe industriai water POiIUlion for the last few years. The extreme low DO ievel of this subproject has drasticaily iimited the yield of fishes. Some suggestions regarding to !he dcveiopmem of culture fishery and protection of the fishers and capture fishery have also been included in this study.