- Fishers in the Bangladesh Sundarbans have been struggling with income due to damage caused to the mangroves by the recent tropical cyclone Remal and also the seasonal ban on resource hunting from June to August.
- In every disaster, poor fisherfolk are entangled more in a complex debt trap for moving on, and this year, the situation is more aggravating as the cyclone hit just before the fishing ban started.
- Nonetheless, the government is adamant on continuing the ban for the sake of forest resource conservation.
- At the same time, the government is still in the planning stage of providing people food support during the ban period, as has been provided to sea-bound fishers during the hilsa harvest ban period.
On a muddy alluvial land by the intertidal rivers Shibsa and Sutarkhali, several unmechanized traditional river boats, known as country boats, are docked, despite it being a weekday in mid-June.
This is because the boat operators — the fishers of the Sundarbans — have been prohibited from fishing in the creeks and canals of the mangrove forest.
This particular village, named Kalabagi Jhulanta Para, home to around 300 fisher families in the Dacope subdistrict of Khulna, was almost devastated when the tropical cyclone Remal hit Bangladesh’s southwest coast on May 26. Five days later, the forest department imposed a 91-day ban on fishing in the Sundarbans to conserve forest resources.
The cyclone left families here destitute. Without any relief aid from the government, the marginalized fishers have rebuilt their fragile huts with high-interest loans, which eventually seem to stand like feathers against gusts.
“I eke out [a living] on fishing. As I couldn’t do it, my wallet was empty. I had to take loans to afford food and to rebuild my shelter because these were crucial for my pregnant wife, children and aged parents,” says an unemployed 26-year-old fisherman, Azizul Islam, while caring for his newborn daughter on his lap.
He has not yet paid the medical bills and fees of the village doctor who assisted his wife in childbirth on June 9. Azizul says he could have managed the money if he had been allowed to do his job.
For the past couple of years, fishers in the Sundarbans have faced seasonal bans on fishing and crab netting during the June-August and January-February seasons. Unfortunately, these bans have been effective immediately after the tropical cyclone seasons in Bangladesh, April-May and October-November.
After every disaster, the poor fisherfolk become more entangled in a complex debt trap while rebuilding their huts and buying food, new boats and fishing nets. During that challenging time, they remain deprived of crucial aid and alternative income sources.
Conducting a study published in 2023, researchers found that restrictions on fishing in the Sundarbans severely impacted the livelihood of forest-dependent communities.
During and after a ban period, the marginalized communities rely solely on high-interest loans from neighboring moneylenders, which adds to their stress, another study finds.
“Because of the bans followed by tropical cyclones, the Sundarbans’ fishermen hardly can recover from the cyclone shocks,” the corresponding author of the 2023 study, Mohammad Raqibul Hasan Siddique, an associate professor of forestry and wood technology at Khulna University, tells Mongabay,
Ban after cyclone: A double blow
As a disaster-prone country, Bangladesh is regularly hit by natural hazards, including cyclones. The risks, determined by the density of historical cyclone paths, are highest on the southwestern coast where the Sundarbans lie.
Analyzing monotonic seasonal and annual trends of categorical cyclonic disturbances formed over the Bay of Bengal between 1981 and 2013, a study found that most intense cyclones form during the post-monsoon (especially during October and November) and pre-monsoon (especially during May).
“The months of November and May account for the highest number of intense cyclones,” the study reveals.
Tropical cyclones such as Sidr in November 2007, Aila in May 2009, Fani in May 2019, Bulbul in November 2019, Amphan in May 2020, Yaas in May 2021, Sitrang in October 2022, Mocha in May 2023, Midhili in November 2023 and Remal in May 2024, substantiating the study findings, have demonstrated devastating impacts along Bangladeshi coastal areas, including the Sundarbans. The Sundarbans in India have also suffered extensive damage.
Followed by the cyclones in May and November, the Forest Department’s bans on fishing and crab netting in the Sundarbans during the June-August and January-February periods appear as huge economic barriers for forest-dependent fisherfolk.
The fishers cannot enter the forest for five months. After repaying debts, their daily income doesn’t exceed 500 taka ($4.25) for the rest of the year.
With insufficient income and no savings, poor fisherfolk are entrapped in a complex debt cycle when natural disasters disrupt their livelihoods. This year, the situation has been more aggravating, as the cyclone Remal hit just before the ban started.
In 2023, fisherman Shaheed Gazi borrowed 70,000 taka ($596) to buy a new country boat and a fishing net as Cyclone Midhili washed away his fishing gear. Shouldering a liability of 40,000 taka ($341), he has taken a new loan of 30,000 taka ($256) since Cyclone Remal destroyed his house.
Sitting on a makeshift ridge at Kalabagi Jhulanta Para, Shaheed says, “Even if we scavenge bamboo and golpata (Nypa fruticans) leaves (hut construction materials) from neighborhoods, we need to arrange 15,000-20,000 taka ($128-$171) for reconstructing a hut.”
Ban for conserving the resource-rich Sundarbans
Timber harvested from the Sundarbans was a major resource for the locals in the past. However, a logging ban has been in place since 1989.
The Forest Department only permits forest-dependent people to harvest non-timber forest products such as fish, crabs, honey, wax and golpata from the mangrove forest.
In the 2022-23 fiscal year, the department fetched revenues of more than 606.64 million taka ($5.16 million) from locals who harvested 2,820,802.77 kilograms (6.2 million pounds) of fish, 282,563.70 kg (623,000 lbs) of honey, 84,640.70 kg (186,600 lbs) of wax, 7,661,447.56 crabs and 6,377,541 kg (14 million lbs) of golpata from the Sundarbans. Fish and crabs generated the highest revenues, at 504.62 million taka ($4.3 million).
The Sundarbans ecosystem supports a rich fisheries diversity. Its water bodies support 27 families and 53 species of pelagic fish, 49 families and 124 species of demersal fish, five families and 24 species of shrimps, three families and seven species of crabs, two species of gastropods, six species of pelecypods, and eight species of locust lobster.
However, overextraction and increased salinity in the Sundarbans water bodies have been identified as contributory causes of a drastic depletion of forest resources.
To control overextraction of forest resources, especially fish as recommended by the Integrated Resource Management Plan (IRMP), the Forest Department in 2019 imposed an inshore fishing ban in the Sundarbans from July 1 to Aug. 31. Later, in 2021, this restriction was extended to three months, starting June 1, in coordination with the Fisheries Department, which has been implementing a 65-day ban on offshore fishing in the Bay of Bengal from May 20 to July 23 since 2015.
It is noteworthy that a ban on netting live crabs in the Sundarbans has been imposed for the January-February period (breeding season) since 1998.
Bangladesh’s Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury informs that the government finds the restriction important for forest resource conservation.
“Enforcement of the bans will continue to protect the Sundarbans,” Saber says.
Fishers endure dearth of shock absorbers
The notion that human rights are intertwined with the environment was established by the 1972 U.N. Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. In 2017, the U.N. Forum on Forests set enhancing benefits from the forest for forest-dependent communities as one of the six goals of the U.N. Strategic Plan for Forests.
Unfortunately, fishers in the Sundarbans are not blessed with internationally recognized rights. They don’t receive food support during fishing restrictions, as the Fisheries Department provides sea-bound fishers during the hilsa harvest ban period.
Abu Naser Mohsin Hossain, divisional forest officer in the Sundarbans West Division, Khulna, says, “For restriction-time food distribution, the department sent a list of around 18,500 fishermen to the concerned authorities three years ago. We have not yet received the food allocation.”
During an interview with Mongabay in March, Saber Hossain Chowdhury emphasized sustainable livelihoods for 3.5 million people (i.e., fishers, collectors of honey and golpata and their family members) dependent on the Sundarbans’ resources.
Regarding the fishing ban, Saber says the government is concerned about the cyclone-hit fishers.
“Our ministry has sent an updated list of Sundarbans-dependent fishermen to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock for verification, since they deal with restriction-time food distribution. We will provide the necessary support for quick food distribution among the ban-affected fisher families,” Saber concludes.
Banner image: Fishermen in the Sundarbans do not have internationally-recognized rights. Image by Noor-A-Alam.
Bangladesh ban on resource hunting in Sundarbans leaves communities facing hardship
Citations:
Siddique, M. R., Hossain, M., & Rashid, A. Z. (2023). The dilemma of prioritizing conservation over livelihoods: Assessing the impact of fishing restriction to the fishermen of the Sundarbans. Trees, Forests and People, 11, 100366. doi:10.1016/j.tfp.2022.100366
Nahiduzzaman, M., Islam, M. N. and Wahab, M. A. (2018). Impacts of fishing bans for conservation on hilsa fishers’ livelihoods: Challenges and opportunities; Conserving ilish, securing livelihoods: Bangladesh-India perspectives (pp.62-82). Academic Foundation; The International Water Association. doi: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330633659
Quader, M., Khan, A., & Kervyn, M. (2017). Assessing risks from cyclones for human lives and livelihoods in the coastal region of Bangladesh. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(8), 831. doi:10.3390/ijerph14080831
Malik, M. A. K., Chowdhury, M. A. M., Ahasan, M. N., Akhter, M. A. E. and Hasan, S. M. Q. (2016). Seasonal and Annual Trend of Cyclonic Disturbances over the Bay of Bengal, IOSR Journal of Applied Physics (IOSR-JAP) e-ISSN: 2278-4861.Volume 8, Issue 4 Ver. II (Jul. – Aug. 2016), PP 68-77. doi: 10.9790/4861-0804026877
Ghosh, S., & Mistri, B. (2023). Cyclone-induced coastal vulnerability, livelihood challenges and mitigation measures of matla–bidya inter-estuarine area, Indian Sundarban. Natural Hazards, 116(3), 3857-3878. doi:10.1007/s11069-023-05840-2
Mahmood, H., Ahmed, M., Islam, T., Uddin, M. Z., Ahmed, Z. U., & Saha, C. (2021). Paradigm shift in the management of the Sundarbans mangrove forest of Bangladesh: Issues and challenges. Trees, Forests and People, 5, 100094. doi:10.1016/j.tfp.2021.100094
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