From Natural Resources Systems Programme - Caribbean: Institutional arrangments for coastal zone management; Trade-off analysis for coastal zone conservation and development; MPA guidelines; Achieving alternative livelihood strategies

From Fisheries Management Science Programme - Enhancement of marine fisheries

The information and management models within this output could be shared across a range of systems in the coastal environment.  The various mixes of public, private commercial, NGO and poor producer involvement in these networks is a potential model for other commodities, especially where there are challenges in identifying and actioning pro-poor production strategies.

Other technical outputs from the aquaculture cluster would also be relevant where a coastal perspective is the overriding factor.

Validation

How the outputs were validated:

Research outputs were validated with extreme poor and moderate poor producers in coastal areas where research had taken place through application of techniques for improved mud crab, mixed culture of tilapia and seabass, seaweed culture and good quality dry fish production technology.  Validation of the research outputs was an integral part of the original research programmes. This was made possible by inclusion of local partner NGOs in each research programme design with clear mandate to validate outputs by completion.  Assessment techniques involved data collection from secondary and primary sources following site selection after discussion with relevant project personnel. The log frames of the concerned projects were considered as the starting reference materials while different PRA tools were used for primary data collection. Indicator-based guidelines for the estimation of carrying capacity of shrimp culture ponds was jointly developed with farmers and used to "ground truth" or cross check these estimates.

Where the Outputs were Validated:      

The outputs from the studies on mud crab, mixed culture of tilapia and seabass, seaweed culture and good quality dry fish production technology and their marketing channel were validated in three coastal areas of Bangladesh namely Munshigonj, Satkhira and Kaligonj of Khulna district during June-August 2006 and in Chakaria of Cox's Bazar district in May 2004.

The dynamic model was calibrated independently for two commercial intensive shrimp farms and cross-validated in Thailand in the mid 1990s. The validation of guidelines for the estimation of carrying capacity was carried out in Khulna in Bangladesh and Can Giao and Do Son in Vietnam in 2005.

Current Situation

Who are the Users?

By linking with NGO's the researcher was successful in targeting the poorer households. This link enabled the crab collectors, small farmers and poor dry fish producers to have an input into the design and as a result an easy method for fattening the low-value soft-shell crabs into high-value hard-shell crabs in a short cycle of 2 weeks, good quality dry fish, mollusc and sea weed production technology was developed. In financial terms this means a mud crab catcher could now potentially get a net return of around Tk. 1,500 from fattening of 60 crabs in 12-14 days.

In fact, a number of enthusiastic individuals, mostly tribal poor women involved in shrimp larvae collection, are currently trying this technique for quick return of their investment. There are some local NGOs who have already initiated adopting this technologies among their members or are actively planning to venture upon such activities in near future. These NGOs include Shushilon and Gono Unnayan Shangstha (GUS) in Khulna and COAST Trust, ESDA and Shastho, Paribesh O Jono Unnayan Shangstha (SPJUS) in Cox's Bazar.

The dynamic model developed has been extended to incorporate a sludge nitrogen pool and remineralisation process jointly by Centre for Reverine Landscapes, Griffith University in Queensland, Australia and Environmental Science and Technology, Imperial College in UK. Both sludge removal and instantaneous water exchange of more than 0.3 day^-1 are recommended to maintain the carrying capacity and sustainable production. These practices together with the guidelines developed for estimation of carrying capacity are widely recognised as Better Management Practices (BMPs) in the shrimp farming industry.

Where the outputs have been used:

Outputs are currently being used in a number of coastal locations in Bangladesh particularly in Paikgacha, Munshigonj and Rampal of Khulna and Chakaria, Moheskhali, Teknaf of Cox's Bazar,; related outputs are also used in Nha Trang and Can Tho Provinces in Vientam and in Luzon State, Philippines. Although the research was only conducted with few households, many others showed an interest in the technology and attended workshops and meetings where the training on different technology was being given. About 500 households in Chittagong and Khulna areas are now using the new technology.

The dynamic model and the guidelines for the estimation of carrying capacity are applicable in all most all Asian coastal shrimp aquaculture to optimise water and pond management in order to maintain the carrying capacity of the pond and the environment and thereby ensure a sustainable production.

Scale of Current Use:

In trial areas in Bangladesh the new technology was used immediately because the research was participatory, supported by training and dissemination with partner NGOs. However, further spread did not keep up initial partly due to the need to develop seed supplies and define further open water locations for placing the cage for mud crab, bamboo structure for sea weed and mollusc production.  Market capacity also needed besides, lack of market access is another factor that makes potential new users unsure of the success of culture techniques.

With respect to maintenance of carrying capacity in coastal shrimp pond culture both sludge removal, adequate water exchange and the indicators based guidelines to estimate carrying capacity are widely recognised as BMPs in the shrimp farming industry irrespective of the scale of operation and country.

Policy and Institutional Structures, and Key Components for Success:

The most notable fact that has supported the growth of mud crab fishery is the possibility of live export of crab, marine dry fish from Bangladesh and a few exporters residing in the capital are facing no bureaucratic obstacles in exporting crab on a daily basis. Thus, the government's favourable export policy is ensuring the steady growth of this sector. Besides, the licensing system from the department of forest is also very simple, which enables wild catchers to collect crabs from the mangrove area of Sundarbans Reserved Forest.  

A number of BMP Programmes, both WB/NACA/ WWF/ FAO/ UNEP Consortium programme case studies and national programmes that NACA was involved with in Asia-Pacific region in coastal aquaculture to demonstrate a practical way of development, uptake and benefits of using responsible management practices have been benefited from the outputs related to estimation of carrying capacity. 

Lessons Learned and Uptake Pathways

Promotion of Outputs:

Currently, promotion for individual cell-based cage culture is taking place in Shamnagar, Satkhira, Munshigonj and Paikgacha of Khulna district and Chakaria area of Cox's Bazar district. The promotions are taking place in the form of training and demonstration for the poor women fisher and university sponsored seminars/workshops for researchers, NGOs and policy planners. The crab whole sellers as well as local NGOs considering provide small-credit for crab collectors to enter into crab fattening.

The dynamic model as well as the guidelines for the estimation of carrying capacity will  contribute towards sustainable coastal aquaculture in Asia-Pacific region as NACA in its Fourth Five-year Work Programme (2006-2010) identified sustainable coastal aquaculture production as a priority area in which support to the development and widespread adoption of better management to be continued.

Potential Barriers Preventing Adoption of Outputs:

In Bangladesh, the most marginalized segment of coastal population especially landless people, widows, orphans and tribal people have the potential to engage in programme activities but often live on government land with no tenure security. Social taboo over catching and eating crabs lead to low status for crab collectors and deprived access to certain social institutions. Similar constraints have been observed for poorer coastal groups in Vietnam and the Philippines, specifically concerning social status, and access to resources.

Coastal marketing systems commonly face problems including poor communications, absence of government services, low levels of market competition, and transport constraints for higher value product. In many cases also communities are highly fragmented, with low levels of social and organisational strength. This weakens not only their socioeconomic position but also their performance as a market player, making them vulnerable in bargaining with other market actors such as depot owners, commission agents and exporter who have better capital endowments. This can be further aggravated by the lack of transparency and asymmetric information flows, lack of capital for investments in improved technology.

Institutional mechanisms that lack promotion of BMPs through education, extension and farmer associations to raise standards constrained the wide adoption of management tools help in maintaining the environmental carrying capacity.

How to Overcome Barriers to Adoption of Outputs:

An effective support package is required to accompany the production and value opportunities, depending on the local context. This may include policy support for securing land and water access rights, if only over defined lease periods, micro-credit facilities to allow communities to take up production opportunities and develop markets, linking producers with domestic and international market by forming collectors' association through GO/NGO initiatives.

Programmes would proceed involving local capacity building with appropriate technical training but over the medium term should incorporate a partnership between NGO, local community organisations, research and training specialists, and public sector agencies, to create an effective learning and development process around the ecolotion of technical and market strength and in support of stronger self-determination and livelihood potential for the communities involved.

A set of BMPs may be packaged with policy statements and commitments to develop code of practices to guide and influence the private sector, regulatory framework, environmental screening processes and extension in favour of environmental carrying capacity.

Lessons Learned:

1. Meaningful partnerships are a necessary foundation for poverty focused research
2. Attitude to partners can make or break research impact
3. Poverty focused research requires the need to understand the bigger picture
4. A change in livelihood outcomes requires more than just research
5. Research that leads to uptake requires an appreciation of the way the poor make decisions
6. Participatory approach provides sense of ownership and impact on the uptake of developed technology and management tools.
7. For women to benefit from output there needs to be serious commitment with explicit incorporation of gender issues into the research design.

Impact on Poverty

Poverty Impact Studies:

Impact studies were carried out in the coastal region of Bangladesh particularly in Shamnagar, Khulna and Chakaria, Cox's Bazar, Limited impact studies were also carried out in Vietnam and the Philippines in associated contexts.

Impacts at Farmers level and environment

Key lessons have emerged on how to make research more relevant to poor people's livelihoods. This assessment was not intended to provide a deep academic analysis of the socio-economic and livelihood impacts. Rather the purpose of the assessment was to provide information as to what some of the impacts have been to date and what lessons are emerging that can usefully inform future development research in order to scale up the impact of research in reducing poverty.

The awareness and knowledge on crab fattening, dry fish production, Sea weed and mollusc production have been gained and improved noticeably. Technical skill and capacities on crab fattening, dry fish production, Sea weed and mollusc production were developed aided by previous training and experience. The beneficiaries have developed skills to solve most of the constraints of crab fattening, dry fish production, Sea wed and mollusc production by themselves. Respect and dignity of farmers and their family level improved to some extent through the new skills, additional income and more scope of economic activities.

Crab fattening, dry fish production, Sea weed, Sea bass and tilapia and mollusc production can potentially provide double benefits for the rural poor: nutrition and income. It is now treated as both food crop and cash crop. Poor people doing crab fattening, dry fish production, Sea wed and mollusc production are getting more benefit from aquatic product production because they are now paying loan from the income.

Employment opportunities for the participating rural poor in the working areas have increased since these projects started. 

The IDL Group that undertook the impact study therefore focused on identifying trends and broad lessons that could be learnt from the output of these two research projects.

The approach offered in the development of guidelines to estimate environmental carrying capacity is now being adapted at local level in both Vietnam and Bangladesh. The core of this approach is simple and can be widely disseminated among low intensive small-scale farmers in developing simple nutrient budgets as a framework for discussing possible environmental problems and appropriate management measures. Thus, maintenance of environmental carrying capacity will positively impact on the sustainability of livelihoods of poor.

How the Poor have Benefited (including gender and other poverty groups):

The main focus of evidence was in Bangladesh where the poor benefited by having access to new production opportunities, being able to use their skills and resources effectively for income and food security, interacting with NGOs to adjust their options (eg short season for crab) by having greater market power in relationships with the conventional supply chains.

With the local aratder (whole seller) seeing the potential for the supply of quality crabs, dry fish and mollusc  the likelihood that he will support the poor households through loans to buy the technology is extremely high (in Chakaria Upazila willingness to provide loans to crab catchers has already been demonstrated through loans to buy crab traps).

Women members of the household played an important role in the fattening of the mud crabs, dry fish production and sea weed and mollusc culture. Apart from feed preparation and feeding, they were responsible for watching the ponds, cages in the day time to prevent theft.

Whilst the eel is collected easily and freely from the wild, it is a natural resource that has a small market value (20 taka per kilo) and at times can be used to supplement household income. By fattening the crabs with this eel a trade off has to be made. The research generated interest among intermediaries (NGOs) who participated in the research as well as those who attended the training. Requests are now being received for technical support in reproducing the cages.

Environmental Impact

Direct and Indirect Environmental Benefits:

It is expected that the dissemination of the new drying technology, will impact positively on physical environment as solar drying minimises rancidity.

Development of culture technology with low inputs contribute significantly towards conserving the environment in two ways: by adopting an environmentally sustainable culture technology, which uses little or no external outputs in terms of feed, chemical or other organic or inorganic ingredients or changing the water quality regimes and second by promoting a fair trade policy from producer to the consumer through appropriate policy and intuitional arrangements. The individual cell-based cage culture for mud crab fattening requires bamboo made cage, which is affordable, locally available and biodegradable. Moreover, the feed for crabs culture also cheap and locally available, which does not require exhaustion of natural resource base as with shrimp and other commercially important aquaculture species.

On the other hand, more intensive production systems can be more efficient in terms of resource use and production and thereby can help reducing environmental and resource use problems provided BMPs are adopted to prevent pollution problems. The dynamic model has a direct positive impact on good management practices of intensive coastal pond culture systems supporting the use of resources more efficiently. Intensive systems require less area opposed to extensive systems which require large areas of land, potentially contributing to minimise degradation of habitat in some areas. The majority of shrimp farms are extensive or semi-intensive, and the highly publicized problems of wetland degradation are often associated with extensive systems.

Adverse Environmental Impacts:

The fattening of crabs with soft shelled and inadequate gonad has a perceived threat of over harvesting of these two types from the wild if demands created by applying this technology outweigh the supply of these types of crabs from the current practise of harvesting from the wild and supplying them from the depots.

The dynamic model which advocates higher water exchange rates in intensive pond culture systems to discharge particulate and dissolved nitrogen to maintain pond carrying capacity may have an effect on nutrient and organic enrichment in receiving waters unless effluent treatment is incorporated into the practice to remove particulate and dissolved nitrogen.

Coping with the Effects of Climate Change, or Risk from Natural Disasters:

The area is extremely vulnerable to disasters and many households have few if any assets and limited cash flows making it difficult for them to withstand any natural disasters and calamities. Thus, promotion and mass adoption of this technology by the segment of this vulnerable group of people in the disaster prone coastal area might increase their capabilities to cope with the natural disasters and food security related problems. 

Relevant Research Projects, with links to the
Research for Development (R4D) web site
and Technical Reports:

R4D	Project Title	Technical Report
R6011	Coastal Aquaculture and Environment: Strategies for sustainability	FTR Appendix
R8094	Practical guidance for the estimation and allocation of environmental capacity for aquaculture in tropical developing countries (TROPECA)	FTR Case Study Working Paper
R8288	Assessing the sustainability of brackish water pond aquaculture systems in the Philippines: a multi-criteria approach