Socio-Economic Context and Community Resilience among the People Involved in Fish Drying Practices in the South-East Coast of Bangladesh

Sabrina Jannat Mitu, Petra Schneider, Md. Shahidul Islam, Masud Alam, Mohammad Mojibul Hoque Mozumder, Mohammad Mosarof Hossain and Md. Mostafa Shamsuzzaman
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Sabrina Jannat Mitu: Department of Coastal and Marine Fisheries, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh
Petra Schneider: Department for Water, Environment, Civil Engineering and Safety, University of Applied Sciences, Magdeburg-Stendal, Breitscheidstraße 2, D-39114 Magdeburg, Germany
Md. Shahidul Islam: Department of Coastal and Marine Fisheries, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh
Masud Alam: Department of Agricultural Statistics, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh
Mohammad Mojibul Hoque Mozumder: Fisheries and Environmental Management Group, Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
Mohammad Mosarof Hossain: Department of Coastal and Marine Fisheries, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh
Md. Mostafa Shamsuzzaman: Department of Coastal and Marine Fisheries, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 12, 1-25

Abstract: The south-east coast, specifically the Cox’s Bazar region, of Bangladesh has achieved a tremendous impetus for producing a large volume of dried fish by involving thousands of marginalized coastal people. This study aimed to assess the socio-economic profile, livelihood strategies, and resilience of the communities engaged in fish drying on the south-east coast using a mixed-methods approach and an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The study’s findings revealed that communities involved in drying were socio-economically undeveloped due to their lower literacy, unstable incomes, and labor-intensive occupations. Apart from notable child labor employed in fish drying in Nazirertek, female workers had relatively higher participation than males. Nevertheless, the female workers had less control over their daily wages and reported working at USD 3.54–5.89 per day, which was relatively lower than male workers who received USD 4.15–8.31 per day. Through fish drying activities, very few workers, producers, and traders were found to be self-reliant. In contrast, the livelihoods of the workers were not as secure as the processors and traders. In addition to suffering from various shocks and constraints, dried fish processors and workers, dried fish traders, off-season income, an abundance of fish species, fish drying facilities, trader’s association, and social interrelationship played a significant role in maintaining community resilience. The study recommends appropriate interventions to alternative income diversification options, strong collaboration between communities, local authorities, and government for sustainable livelihoods and better community resilience.

Keywords: coastal fisheries; dry fish; livelihood; vulnerability; AHP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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