Climatic Impacts and Responses of Migratory and Non-Migratory Fishers of the Padma River, Bangladesh

Makidul Islam Khan, Goutam Kumar Kundu, Mosammat Salma Akter, Bishawjit Mallick and Md. Monirul Islam
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Makidul Islam Khan: Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Goutam Kumar Kundu: Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Mosammat Salma Akter: Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Bishawjit Mallick: Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Technische Universität Dresden/DRESDEN concept, 01062 Dresden, Germany
Md. Monirul Islam: Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh

Social Sciences, 2018, vol. 7, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: This study empirically assesses the impacts of climatic events on the inland fishers (i.e., migratory and non-migratory) in Bangladesh and explores their responses to those events. Here, the migratory refers to the fishers who change their fishing location seasonally and voluntarily, whereas the non-migratory fishers fish in the same area. It is assumed that there exist differences in both the impacts of an event and the responses to the event between migratory and non-migratory fishers and therefore, a ‘difference triangle’ conceptual framework is developed and tested empirically under this research. Employing mix-method (qualitative and quantitative), a field study was conducted during July–October 2015 from the Padma River depended fishers. Identified climatic events under this study are: storms, changes in rainfall and temperature and riverbank erosion. The migratory and non-migratory fishers were affected quite similarly by storms and changes in rainfall and temperature. However, riverbank erosion affected only non-migratory fishers. Both the migratory and non-migratory fishers adopted different strategies to cope with different climatic events, like, they took shelter in safe places, sold productive assets, reduced food consumption, took credit from informal sources and employed their school-going children. As adaptation strategies, they modernized their fishing boats, intensified fishing, built embankments and diversified livelihoods. Unlike the impacts, considerable differences were found in their coping and adaptation strategies. Comparing to non-migratory fishers, a smaller number of migratory fishers sold their assets, took informal credit and intensified fishing and diversified their livelihoods. The result of this study indicates the significance of differences in the impacts of climatic events for the migratory and non-migratory fishers and therefore, this research has policy implication for the betterment of fishers’ community in general.

Keywords: climate change; impact; adaptation; migration; fisher; hazard (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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