Findings for Baseline Survey

Project: Promoting and Protecting the Rights

of
Marginal Fishers
F

A Study on Sonargaon Upazila in Narayanganj District

November, 2012

by
Mushfik Jalal
 Executive summary

The extent and persistence of rights situation in Bangladesh requires focused attention and
action. The fisher community lives under adverse social situation. However, whilst
distinguishing the fisher community from society is straight forward on paper using expenditure
data, access to services, violation of rights, rehabilitation, food security safety nets etc.

This base line survey has been conducted on the fishers’ community of Sonargaon Upazila in
Narayanganj District. Sonargaon is a historical place with numerous opportunities in the sector
of fishing. Sonargaon Upazila is criss-crossed by the Meghna River. Fishers have been living
here for long time.

Violation of rights is a complex problem. It is controversial and emotional issues for the world,
but the scenario is acute in the developing countries. Constitution of the Peoples Republic of
Bangladesh and the existing laws signify the right situation of fishers. The study aims to identify
existing economic, social and environmental conditions associated with right situation of fishers’
community in Sonargaon Upazila.

Data has been collected through questionnaire survey, FGD, case study and key informant
survey. Primary data has been collected through beneficiaries and stakeholders. The collected
data has been analyzed using statistical packages.

Analysis finds out deprivation and poor living condition of fishers’ community in Sonargaon
Upazila as well as indentifies opportunity for fishers’ with optimum resources. Fishers’ income
level is such lower that food expenditure covers most part of their total earning. Fishers’ do not
get sufficient basic services and facilities for their livelihood. Most of the households in fisher’
community lacks electricity, sanitation, health facility, education facility, access to govt.
institution. Not a single household is facilitated with drainage or water supply. To some extent
fishers’ or other members of family have to cross long distance to reach at water source, market,
school, health organization. Still many Mohallas are not connected with electricity facility. They
lacks knowledge about Govt. or non Govt. grants such as VGD/VGF, rehabilitation. Their social
bond is not also combined. Fisher community is vulnerable in case of social, natural,
environment, health, economic, politics. Child right is not preserved. Mostly domestic violence

i
against women occurs in this community. Fisher community has a little access to local public
institutions. In most cases satisfaction level of services by those authorities is moderate.

In spite of having mentioned adverse situation, Fishers’ have great opportunity to uplift their
social situation using resource by establishing their rights as fishers’ as well as human being.

ii
 Acronyms and Abbreviations

BRDB Bangladesh Rural Development Board

CBO Community Based Organization

OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

GoB Government of Bangladesh

NGO Non Government Organization

VGD Vulnerable Group Development

VGF Vulnerable Group Feeding

Hilsha National fish

RTI Right to Information

iii
Executive Summary………………………………………………………….……………………………..……………………………………...i

Acronyms & Abbreviations.………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………..iii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background ....................................................................................................................................... 3
1.2 Goal and Objective ............................................................................................................................ 4
1.3 Justification of the study .................................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Conceptualization .............................................................................................................................. 4
CHAPTER TWO: STUDY AREA
2.1 Description of Study Area .................................................................................................................. 9
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 11
3.2 Selection of study area .................................................................................................................... 11
3.3 Research type .................................................................................................................................. 11
3.4 Selection of Parameters ................................................................................................................... 12
3.5 Sampling.......................................................................................................................................... 12
3.6 Data collection procedure................................................................................................................ 13
3.7 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 14
CHAPTER FOUR: LEGAL RIGHTS PROVISION
4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 15
4.2 Constitutional provisions ................................................................................................................. 15
4.3 Statutes and enforcement authority related with fisher’s right ........................................................ 16
4.4 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)................................................................................ 18
4.5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 19
CHAPTER FIVE: ANALYSIS & FINDINGS

1
5.1 Household information .................................................................................................................... 20
5.2 Economic status............................................................................................................................... 21
5.3 Asset information ............................................................................................................................ 26
5.4 Basic Services and Facilities.............................................................................................................. 29
5.5 Child and Women Right Situation .................................................................................................... 33
5.6 Access to public institutions ............................................................................................................. 35
5.7 Food security status ......................................................................................................................... 36
5.8 Financial debit ................................................................................................................................. 39
5.9 Risk.................................................................................................................................................. 40
5.10 Unawareness or Deprivation? ........................................................................................................ 42
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION
6.1 Concluding remark........................................................................................................................... 46

Reference …………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………………. R1-R2

Annexure
Appendix-A

Questionnaire ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. A-1

Appendix-B

Childhood life calendar of Arshad Gazi ……………………………………………………………………………………………… A-6

Checklist for in-depth interview ………………………………………………………………………………………………........... A-6

Key informant ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………. A-7

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 Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Background

Bangladesh being a first line littoral state of the Indian Ocean has a very good source of marine
resources in the Bay of Bengal. More than 80 percent of the animal protein in the Bangladeshi
diet comes from fish. Fish accounted for 6 percent of GDP in the fiscal year of 1970, nearly 50
percent more than modern industrial manufacturing at that time. Fish for local consumption are
generally of freshwater varieties.

Today, in Bangladesh, when you say ‘fisherman’, the image that comes to mind is often that of a
helpless, debt ridden, over burdened face full of despair living from hand to mouth. Fishermen
are small and marginal. They obviously cannot derive any benefits from economies of scale in
their small, fragmented holdings. And as they are in the unorganized sector they are without
institutional access to modern technologies and knowledge or financial services through which
they can make investments to improve productivity of fish. Poor infrastructure and connectivity
(power, telecom, roads) further compound their competitive disadvantage. It is in this
environment that we are expecting an average Bangladeshi fisher to become a successful
entrepreneur. Indeed, the odds are heavily against him. Unless policy frameworks and
institutionalized support systems are made available and accessible equitably to all, marginal
fishers will continue to find impossible to come out of the vicious cycle of poverty, which they
have been forced into.

The fisher’s communities at Sonargaon Upazila in Narayanganj District have become the victims
of various violations of rights that affected their livelihood seriously. They can’t exercise their
rights over the natural resources. The influential groups with the support of the corrupted
government officials and law enforcement agencies continuing torture over the fisher
communities of the area, but they cannot protest.

Fishers think themselves deprived from others and the quality of the Health Services, Education,
Water, Sanitation and Other Support Services related to fishing activities is very poor due to the
poor responsiveness from the duty bearers.

3
Environment Council Bangladesh (EC Bangladesh) is a national development organization is
currently working to change the lives of disadvantaged and marginal fisher. EC Bangladesh is
currently working on a project entitled “Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Marginal
Fishers”.

1.2 Goal and Objective

The goal of the project is “Improved livelihoods of the marginalized fishers through promoting
and protecting rights”.

Objective of this study is to assess economic condition and right situation of fishers’. Problems
and opportunities of fisher community also have to be identified through assessing economic
condition and right situation.

1.3 Justification of the study

Tackling right situation of marginal people is a key challenge in a country. In the case of
Bangladesh, inequity and inequality occupies an insignificant space within the broad policy
aspect. There are limited literatures on the right situation that marginal fishers’ face in their
lifecycles in Sonargaon of Narayanganj in bangladesh. Therefore, the current study provides an
insight into their rights approach to local institution. There is a strong debate why institutions are
appropriate for mitigating the deprivation that marginal fishers’ of Sonargaon fisher community
of Bangladesh always face. Different academies, researchers as well as development
practitioners look at exploring the condition of marginal fishers. However, they only evaluate the
impact of institution of different perspective. But there is no study about the activity and
response of stakholders in protecting and promoting the rights of marginal fishers. The analysis
of right situation in changing their social life has a benefit: it can assess the overall situation of a
particular area of the country.

1.4 Conceptualization
Human rights are those rights that every human being possesses and is entitled to enjoy simply
by virtue of being human.

4
The U.N defines human rights in the following manner-

“Human rights could be defined as those rights which are inherent without which we cannot live
as human beings. Human rights and fundamental freedoms allow man to be fully developed and
use own human qualities, own intelligence, own talents and own conscience and to satisfy their
spiritual and other needs. They are basic for mankind’s increasing demand for life in which the
inherent dignity and work of each human will receive respect and protection. Those human needs
that enable a man or woman to develop his/ her intelligence, occupation, personality, status and
initiative for living a wholesome life may be called human rights. ”

According to the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh-

“Human rights are the provision of basic necessities of life that is food, clothing, shelter,
education, medical facilities etc. Again there will be the right to work that is working with
reasonable wages, the right to rest, recreation and leisure and the right to social security.”

When a person will be deprived from his/ her human rights then it will be the violation of human
rights. Generally it is Accepted that right situation degrade when people fall in some form of
severe deprivation. Marginal situation among specific group occurs when the lack of basic
security simultenously affects several aspects of people’s lives, when it is prolonged, and when it
is severely compromises people’s chances of regaining their rights and resuming their
responsibilities in the foreseeable future.

Ellis (2000) bases his framework on different livelihood approaches, such as the research on
sustainable rural livelihoods of Bebbington (1999).

5
 Fig: 1 Diagram of Ellis

Ellis theory concurs broadly that poverty policy should be about raising the asset status of the
poor, or enabling existing assets that are idle or under-employed to be used productivity. Such
approach looks positively at what is possible rather than negatively at how desperate things are.
The framework is thought to be particularly useful as a guide to micro policies concerned with
right situation in rural areas, although it may also serve a useful purpose for tracing local level
impact of macro policies refers to interventions that affect livelihood options and strategies at
sectoral and local levels. Micro policies may arise from governments, donors, NGOs, or from
rural people themselves in participatory interaction with any or several other parties. In Ellis
framework, it is the rural household that is taken as the main social unit to which the framework
is applied. It is implied by the use of term “livelihood strategy” in which the household as a
social unit is observed to alter its mix of activities according to its right situation. At community
level, a single livelihood strategy could not apply, since different households will adopt different
strategies according to their particular asset and access status. So this theory is important to
evaluate the approach of the study.

6
Now another livelihood strategy will be evaluated. This strategy is used in the paper of CARE
Bangladesh. This strategy cannot mix the broad aspect of household where Ellis theory can
discuss in broad sense.

Fig 2: CARE’s Household Livelihood security framework

7
CARE's use Care’s use of the livelihoods framework for its investigation of households has been
summarized in Figure 2. In addition, the livelihoods approach has been used elsewhere in work
in studies of Bangladesh (Gibson et al., 2004; Hossain, 2005b; Toufique and Turton, 2003).
Livelihoods approaches are very powerful as organizing tools. However, they can sometimes
provide a very static picture of right situation to a household, masking the dynamics of poverty
and related uncertainties, risks, opportunities and resilience that households experience. Wood
recommends that robust qualitative investigation is used to overcome this problem (Wood,
2005). There is also the risk that capitals can be portrayed as 'interchangeable' or 'substitutable'
using this framework, which has been questioned in the environmental livelihoods research
fields. Within the area of poverty reduction initiatives, which deal with a complex interplay of
factors in livelihoods, it is likely that 'capitals' cannot be reduced so simply in this way.
The livelihood approach to protecting right situation and rural poverty reduction comprises the
three main dimensions of right situation to the rural poor, the mediating processes which
influence access to those rights and the use to which they can be put and the strategies adopted
by the rural poor for survival. This rights-access-activities framework is iterative and is a process
unfolding over a time for individuals, households and communities.

8
 Chapter Two: Study Area
2.1 Description of Study Area

Sonargaon is an Upazila of Narayanganj District in the Division of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Sonargaon thana was turned into a upazila in 1983. Sonargaon was the administrative center of
medieval Muslim rulers of East Bengal. It became as the capital of Bengle during Isa Khan’s
ruling. The area falls under present-day Narayangan District, Bangladesh. Today the name
Sonargaon survives as Sonargaon Upazila in that district. Table 1 is showing general information
about sonargaon district.

Table 1: General information of Sonargaon Upazila

Location 23.6583°N 90.6083°E

Area 171.66 square kilometers
Population 400358
Union 11
Villege 466
Mohalla 352

Araihazar and Rupganj upazilas on the north, Munshiganj Sadar and Gazaria upazilas on the
south, Homna and Gazaria upazilas on the east, Bandar (Narayanganj), Narayanganj Sadar,
Rupganj upazilas and Demra Thana on the west. Map of Sonargaon Upazila has been shown as
follows.

9
 N

Fig 3: Map of Sonargaon Upazila

By the 14th century Sonargaon became a commercial port. Trade activities were mentioned by
travelers like Ibn Batuta, Ma Huan and Ralph Fitch. Maritime ships travelled between Sonargaon
and southeast/west Asian countries. Muslin was produced in this region.

10
 Chapter Three: Methodology
3.1 Introduction
The systematic and logical study is guiding a research towards achievement of the desired goals.
The study has been based on a multifaceted research design to achieve the objectives. By
understanding the importance, this chapter will illustrate a step-by-step complete picture of a
sound methodology.

3.2 Selection of study area

Fishermen do not live all over the Sonargaon Upazila. They live in some specific location across
the riverside. Fishermen found living in following Mohallas.
Raghunar char
Komlapur
Shobujbag
Gucchagram
Chuadanga
Tek para
Haria
Shatvaia para
Roghuvanga
Raghunar char, Komlapur, Shobujbag, Gucchagram, tek para and Chudanga are located in
‘Char’ area. Most of the fishers live here. Another significant number of fishers found in Shatvai
para excepting ‘Char’ area.

3.3 Research type

Quantitative and qualitative method has been used for this study. On the basis of study both objective
measurement and subjective measurement have been taken. Objective measurement is used for
quantitative research. Income, expenditure etc. will be measured by objective measurement. On
the contrary, subjective measurement is used for qualitative research. Household livelihood
portfolio (sources of income gender & age), Role of institution in capacity building etc will be

11
measured by subjective tools. Both measurements will measure the multidimensionality, severity
and longevity of right situation of marginal fisher in Sonargaon Upazila

3.4 Selection of Parameters

Parameter selection was an intensive step of this study. Those parameters have been selected that
comprises the right situation of marginal fishers. The parameters are as follows.

Table 2: Parameters and sub-parameters

Parameter Sub-Parameters
Household livelihood portfolio Source of income, gender, age,education
Asset Natural, human, financial, physical, social
Social environment Information services, social networks, religion,
community organizations, social norms,
cultural norms
Natural environment Access to safe water
Gender issue Violence, household head, dowry, access and
control
Health and family planning
morbidity Gender and age
Seasonality Occupation
Production and collection of fish
Historical time Early age
Access and control over services and facilities
Income and expenditure

3.5 Sampling
Purposive sampling technique has been used to select household. Fisherman is the target group
of this study. Those households have been selected who feed on fishing activity.
A total of 200 households have been surveyed using probability in proportion to the size of each
village fishers’ population.

12
Table 3: Number of surveyed household in different Mohalla
Mohalla Raghunar Komlapur Gucchagram Shobujbag Chuadanga Tek Shatviya Haria Roghuv
Char Para Para anga
Sample 50 17 20 41 18 16 22 10 6
size
Total 200

Fisher of different living place, religion, income group, age and family type has been specified
for study purpose.

3.6 Data collection procedure

Parameter selection helped in deciding means of data collection. Means of data collection helps
in selecting primary and secondary data type and data source.

3.6.1 Means of data collection

Data has been collected using following types of investigation.

Questionnaire survey
Questionnaire survey has been conducted to find out socio-economic status, access to utility
services and community facilities, access institutions and information, food security status etc.
Case study
A case study is a means of data collection which indicates life time matters related with a single
person. Case study has been conducted to find child right issues.
Focus group discussion
Focus group discussion of stakeholders has been conducted to analyze risk situation of fishers at
household, local and community level.
Key informant survey
Key informant survey has been conducted to find gender issue among fisher community.
3.6.2 Data type and data source
Primary data has been collected for this study. Data sources are fishermen or any senior member
of his family in absence of fisherman, fishery Department, Agriculture Department, Thana
Health Complex and Union Parishad. Data collection procedure can be concised in Table 4.
Table 4: Data collection procedure

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Research Means of data Data type Data source
type collection

Quantitative Questionnaire survey Primary data Fisherman or any senior

member of family in
absence of fisherman

Case study Fishery

Qualitative Focus group Primary data Department
discussion Agriculture
Key informant Department
Thana Health
Complex
Union Parishad

3.7 Conclusion
This chapter helps in understanding survey procedure, parameters and data format. This chapter
guides the discussion of protecting and promoting right situation of fishers.

14
 Chapter Four: Legal Rights Provision
4.1 Introduction
Needless to say Fisher community is a part of human society. Legal provision of human rights
comprises of people across the country. Fisher community is not out of such consideration.
Though they deserve additional legal provision as specific beneficiary group. Bangladesh is a
country with numerous opportunities in this sector. A number of legal provisions are included in
statutory as well as constitution of Bangladesh. It is also a matter of concern all over the world.

4.2 Constitutional provisions

The Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh is the supreme law of the country. All
laws in the country take their validity from the Constitution. The fundamental rights listed in Part
III of the Constitution are justifiable, the Supreme Court having been entrusted with the power to
enforce them. The fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution comprise the following:
equality before the law; non-discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of
birth; equality of opportunity in public employment; protection of law; protection of right to life
and personal liberty; safeguards regarding arrest and detention; prohibition of forced labour;
protection in respect of trial and punishment; freedom of movement; freedom of assembly;
freedom of association; freedom of thought and conscience; freedom of speech and expression;
freedom of profession or occupation; freedom of religion; rights to property; and protection of
home and correspondence.

Article 15: Provision of basic necessities

It shall be a fundamental responsibility of the state to attain, through planned economic growth, a
constant increase of productive forces and a steady improvement in the material and cultural
standard of living of the people, with a view to securing to its citizens-

(a) The provision of the basic necessities of life, including food, clothing, shelter, education
and medical care.
(b) The right to work that is the right to guaranteed employment st s reasonable wage having
regard to the quality and quantity of work.
(c) The right to reasonable rest, recreation and leisure; and

15
 (d) The right to social security, that is to say to public assistance in cases of undeserved want
arising from unemployment, illness or disablement, or suffered by widows or orphans or
in old age, or in other such cases.
Article 17: Free and compulsory education

The state shall adopt effective measures for the purpose

(a) Establishing a uniform, mass oriented and universal system of education and extending
free and compulsory education to all children to such stage as may be determined by law;
(b) Relating education to the needs of society and producing properly trained and motivated
citizens to serve those needs;
(c) Removing illiteracy within such time as may be determined by law.
Article 28: Public health and morality

(1) The state shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the improvement of

Public health as moving its primary duties.

(2) The state shall adopt effective measures to prevent prostitution and gambling.

Article 34: Prohibition of forced worker

(1) All forms of forced worker are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be
an offence punishable in accordance with law.
(2) Nothing in this article shall apply to compulsory worker.

4.3 Statutes and enforcement authority related with fisher’s right

There are several statutes for ensuring fishing in water body and establish fishers’ right. The
statutes are mentioned as follows.

1. National Fisheries Policy, 1998

2. The Protection and Conservation of Fish Rules, 1985
3. The Marine Fisheries Ordinance, 1983
4. The Marine Fisheries Rules, 1983
5. The Fish and products (Inspection and Quality Control) ordinance, 1983
6. Bangladesh Civil Service (Agriculture:Fisheries) Composition and Cadre Rules, 1980
7. East Pakistan Government Fisheries (Protection) Ordinance, 1959

16
 8. The Protection and Conservation of Fish Act, 1950
9. The Tanks Improvement Act, 1939
10. The Private Fisheries Protection Act, 1889

The Protection and Conservation of Fish Act (1950) basically is regulating inland fisheries
which has amended by the Protection and Conservation (Amendment) Ordinance in 1982 and
implemented by the Protection and Conservation of Fish Rules in 1985. Generally, the
Protection and Conservation of Fish Act empowers the government to make rules that prohibit
the destruction of fish by poisoning the water or the depletion of fisheries by pollution, effluents
or otherwise. The Protection and Conservation of Fish Rules specifically deal with the protection
of certain carp species; prohibit certain activities to facilitate their augmentation and production.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MoFL), through its Department of Fisheries (D0F), has
overall responsibility for fisheries development, management and conservation. Its functions
included amongst others the preparation of schemes and the coordination of national policy in
respect of fisheries, the prevention of fish disease, the conservation, management and
development of fisheries resources, the management of fish farms and training and collection of
information. The activities of DoF are supported by the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute
(BFRI), which is responsible for fisheries research and its coordination. In addition, the
Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation (BFDC), established under the Bangladesh
Fisheries Development Corporation Act (1973), supports DoF in developing the fishing
industry. Functions of BFDC include, inter alia, the establishment of units for fishing and for the
preservation, processing, distribution and marketing of fish and fishery products.

The overall responsibility for the administration and management of government-owned water
bodies is vested in the Ministry of Land (MoL), in accordance with the State Acquisition and
Tenancy Act (1950) There is no authorization or registration system for fishing in open water
bodies. As such, MoL has passed authority to MoFL to lease several water bodies in the country
as part of its Community Based Fisheries Management Programme. Generally, however, the
management of land and water bodies is conducted through the local government administration.

The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) is responsible for integrated water resource
management. It is the National Water Resources Council (NWRC), headed by the Minister of
Water Resources, formulates policy on different aspects of water resources management. MoWR

17
is assisted in its tasks by several agencies like The Bangladesh Water Development Board
(BWDB), and the Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO).

The fisheries objectives in the National Environmental Policy (1992) are to ensure an appropriate
environment for the conservation and development of fisheries, to prevent activities, which
diminish the wetlands/natural habitats of fish and encourage rehabilitative measures in this area.

The Fish and Fish Product (Inspection and Quality Control) Ordinance (1983) prohibits the
operation of a fish processing and packing plant without a license and stipulates that the
processing of fish must take place in accordance with hygienic rules and conditions. The
Ordinance also prohibits the export of fish and fishery products without a health certificate. The
overall responsibility for fish inspection and quality control is vested in DoF, which maintains
several testing laboratories to certify the quality of exportable fish and fishery products. The
Ordinance is further implemented by the Fish and Fish Product (Inspection and Quality
Control) Rules (1997).

4.4 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in
fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights
of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life
in larger freedom. On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted
and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Article 23: (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and
favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself
and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other
means of social protection.

Article 24: (1) Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of
working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

18
Article 25: (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-
being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and
necessary social services and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness,
disability or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Article 26: (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the
elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and
professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally
accessible to all on the basis of merit.

The Constitution is the supreme law of Bangladesh and takes precedence over any other
provisions of national or international law. In the event of a conflict between a provision of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and national law, any relevant constitutional provisions
would take precedence, followed by constitutionally-derived national legislation and finally the
Convention, as a part of international law. Thus, the Convention cannot override national law. In
the courts, provisions of the Convention have persuasive value and have, on occasion, been cited
in child custody cases.

Apart from the Constitution, the principal source of the law in the country is legislation.
Legislation consists of laws made by or under the authority of Parliament and may comprise
either statutes or statutory instruments, which are orders, rules and regulations made by a
Government Ministry under the authority of a statute or by-laws made by local government or
other authorities exercising powers conferred upon them by the legislature.

4.5 Conclusion
There are legal provisions for human rights as well as with special attention of fisher community.
But the matter of disappointment is lack of implementation of these provisions. Marginal fishers
are not aware of these provisions. So they cannot take any initiatives to establish their rights.
Different social influence also disallow them to stand on their rights.

19
 Chapter Five: Analysis & Findings

5.1 Household information

Not a single household is headed by female. Ea

Each house household
hold is headed by male (figure 4).
4
The number of single family is greater
gre than joint family (figure 5).
200 single joint
150
100
50 44%
Frequency
0 56%
Male heade Female
household headed
household

Fig 4: Household head type Fig 5:: Family type

Sonargaon fishers’ community’s each household is headed by male. Male persons of households
are the mail income source for family. On the other hand 56% of total households are single and
remaining 44% are joint. It seems that, mos tof the households show interest in living in single
family.

Most of the households in fishers’

ishers’ community founds consisting of 3-5
3 5 member as the number of
single family is higher.

20
 above 10 two
persons person
1% 2%

person of 6
6-10
45%
person of 3-5
52%

Fig 6: Household size information

The number of household size of two member and above ten member is a few and equal to the
percentage of 2% and 1% of total household.
Muslim families live here in a significant number. Table 5 shows the frequency of muslim and
hindu households.

Table 5:: Religion wise no. of household

Religion
Muslim Hindu
Frequency of household 142 58
Percentage of household 71% 29%

71% of total households are muslim and remaining 29% of total households are hindu. Other
religion such as Buddhist, Christian etc do not involve in fishing activity.

5.2 Economic status

Fishers’ households expense their income on food, cloth, health, education,
education, house rent transport
and others. Fishers’ costs on food most portion of their total cost. Next portion of total cost is
expended on transport and education. Mean expenditure for different purposes are shown in
following figures

21
 BDT BDT
9057.5 9057.5
6875.5

306.16

Total expenditure Expenditure in food Total expenditure Expenditure in cloth

Fig 7: Mean expenditure of food vs total Fig 8: Mean expenditure of cloth vs total

BDT BDT
9057.5 9057.5

368.4
551.25
Total expenditure Expenditure in house
Total expenditure Expenditure in health rent

Fig 9: Mean expenditure of health vs total Fig 10: Mean expenditure of H rent vs total

BDT BDT
9057.5 9057.5

693.18 257.6

Total expenditure Expenditure in transport Total expenditure Expenditure in other

Fig 11: Mean expenditure of transport vs total Fig 12: Mean expenditure of others vs total

Expenditure in other basic services and facilities are insignificant. Mean expenditure in cloth,
health, house rent and others are BDT 306.16, 551.25, 368.4 and 257.6 respectively.

22
Income pattern of fishermen varies from household to household. a few household earn better
income, although it is not sufficient for survival of their family. Following figure shows the
income level of fisher community of Sonargaon Upazila.
Sometimes expenditure of their household crosses the limit of income level. Their food
expenditure covers most percentage of their total expenditure. Thus they have a little access to
other basic need as they earn a little and expense most in food.

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%
1
9
17
25
33
41
49
57
65
73
81
89
97
105
113
121
129
137
145
153
161
169
177
185
193
Expenditure in Food Total Expenditure

Fig 13: Expenditure of food in percentage of total expenditure

Fig 13 is showing fishers cost maximum in food of their total income. They cost around 80% on
food in percentage of total income. Sometimes it reaches intolerable situation when households’
food expenditure exceed 90% or more in percentage of total expenditure. Such situation is
indicating that, most of the households earn to only eat properly three times in a day. They
expense a little on other sector such as health, cloth, education, transport etc. as they earn
insufficiently. A few households are better position comparing others and costs 60% to 70% in
food consumption of their total expenditure but also in unsatisfactory manner.

Most of the households’ income is insufficient considering household size. To earn more
fishermen get involve in other occupation seasonally or very occasionally supplementing their
monthly income for short period of year.

23
 120

100
Frequency of household

80

60

40

20

0
less than 5001 5001-10000 10001- 15000 15001-20000
single 16 96 0 0
joint 0 33 48 7

Fig 14: Monthly income range of households on family type basis

Fig 14 shows that, most of the households of fisher community earn between BDT 5001-
1000/month. Both single and joint family types exist within this range. The number of single
family type is higher in this case. Next higher household frequency falls within range of BDT
10001-15000/month. In this range each family type is joint. This situation also seems in the
monthly income range of BDT 15000-2000/month. But situation is different in the income range
of less than BDT 5000/month. Only sixteen single households exist in this range.
Although fig 14 is showing that higher income range comprises of joint household, but it does
not mean that economic condition is better in joint family. The reason behind this is increasing
per capita expenditure in joint family.

Monthly total expenditure per adult equivalent OECD

Joint Household Single Household

BDT 1778.25 BDT 1682.75

Joint Household Single Household

24
 Figure 15: Monthly total per capita expenditure on family type basis
Per capita expenditure is higher in joint family than single family. So they have to earn more for
survive.

Fig 16: Income level of different fisher households

Fig 16 is showing that, 75% of total households earn between the income range of around BDT
3500 to BDT 10500. A few fisher earn maximum and that is BDT 18000 to 20000. Most of the
household’s income level remains around median income which is about BDT 8500.

Fisher cannot earn enough depending on fishing to lead a sound life. They get involved in
different occupations to supplement income. Whenever they are prohibited to catch fish by

25
authorities, they get involved seasonal and very occasional occupation. Table 6 is showing
different occupations on different time period with each of that mean income.
income

Table 6: income pattern of fisher community

Main income source Supplement income source

(Year ruond) Very occasional Seasonal
Fishing - Fishing, farmer,
Labor,
Richshaw/Van
pullar, Business
Mean income (monthly) BDT 7472.49 - BDT 3235.78

5.3 Asset information

Both productive and non productive asset are found in fisher’s household. Though, some
households are found with not a sin
single quantity of asset. Figure 17 shows number of households
owning different productive assets.

Productive asset
100
80
60
40 Frequency
20
0
Land Chicken Cow Goat Duck

Fig 17:: Frequency of households owning productive asset

Figure 18 shows the frequency of households owning non productive asset. They earn a little
from productive asset to supplement family income.

26
 Non-productive asset
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40 Frequency
20
0

Fig 18:: Frequency of household owning non productive asset

Fig 17 shows 94 households have own land. Not in a significant number but a small number of
households have productive asset such as chicken, duck, cow and goat.

Fig 18 shows fishing net, mobile phone and boat are included in a significant number. Other non
productive
uctive asset such as machinery, jewelry and electronics are owned by a few household.
Mobile phone is common among households as they need in their work for communication.

Fishing net and boat also is important non productive asset for fishermen. Those who do not
have boat or net use others with payment. Different types of nets used by fishermen. Although
‘Cuurent’ Net is forbidden to use but some fisher do not abide by the law. They use this net for
fishing. Sometimes they are caught by authority and be pu
punished.
nished. Following figure is showing
the percentage of different types of net used by Sonargaon fisher community.

27
 Fishing Net
moi chandi
baish pira guna
pata 4% 2% 3% 9%
7%

kuna
current 19%
14%

doson
12%
dona
30%

Fig 19:: Number of fishers using

using different types of fishing net

Fig 19 is showing that, 30% of total fishers use ‘Dona’. ‘Kuna’, ‘Doson’ and ‘Current’ are also
used by them and equal to the percentage of 19%, 12% and 14% respectively. A few portion of
fishers use ‘Pata’, ‘Moi’, ‘Baish pira’, ‘Guna’ and ‘Chandi’.

Fishers of living in own, rented and others land are foun in this community. No la
land is provided
by Govt. in this community. Others land refers to those lands that is owned by elite group and
elite group allow fisher’s to live in their land with pre-requisition
pre requisition of sharing a certain portion of
caught fish.

Land ownership
own rented others land

47% 45%

8%

Fig 20:
20 land ownership status of fishers

28
47% of total fisher households stay in others land. 45% of total households’ lives in own land.
Remaining 8% of total households stay in rented house. Here scenario is tough for fishers.
Because most of the fisherss feel insecure in living others land as they may be evicted at anytime
by elite group.

5.4 Basic Services and Facilities

Fisher community of sonargaon upazila is not provided with satisfactory level of basic services
and facilities. They are not facilitated with suffici
sufficient
ent utilities and facilities.

Provision of electricity facility is insufficient. From study it is revealed that 52% of total
households are not facilitated with electricity facility. Besides, most of the electricity facilitated
households use individual solar
lar energy.

solar cable

43%

57%

Fig 21:: Percentage of solar energy using household

Here, all electricity facility consumers do not get electric connection provided by Govt.
authority. They use individual solar energy for their household. 57% of total households use such
electricity
ectricity power source. This type of energy cannot be frequently used. This system is not
suitable during absence of sufficient sunlight.

Sanitation facility
ty also seems very poor. Table 7 shows what type of latrine fishermen use and
how they use.

29
Table 7:: Type of sanitation system

Type of sanitation How they use latrine Total

Own Shared
Sanitary 21 62 83
Hanging 17 100 117
Total 38 162 200

From table 7,, most of the households use hanging latrine which is unhygienic. A few have own
latrine. Most households use shared latrine which lacks security and privacy.

Sanitation system is unhygienic. People defecate or urinate mostly in hanging latrine. It is also
polluting environment of the community.

Sanitation
sanitary hanging

41%

59%

Fig 22: Sanitation type of fishers

Fig 22 shows that, 59% of total households use hanging latrine and remaining 41% of total
households use sanitary latrine which does not degrade surrounding environment.

On the other hand Sonargaon fisher community excludes a single dustbin. They dispose solid
waste
aste at either open space nearby their house or river. A few household dispose solid waste at
drain. Wherever they dispose such disposal has been polluting environment.

30
 drain open sapce river

4%

37%

59%

Fig 23:
23 Location of solid waste disposal

Only two Mohallas named Guccha Gram and Shatvai Para have access road. Other Mohallas
have no access road.

Table 8:: Access road condition

Mohalla Road condition

Road type Road width
Guccha gram Semi-pacca 4 feet
Shatvai para Semi-pacca 4 feet

Both access roads are semi-pacca

pacca as well as narrow (4 feet in width).

Water is available for various purposes such as drinking, cooking, washing and bathing. Water
sources of each household are same for different purposes. Following table is showing water
sources along with maximum and minimum distances from home to source of water.

Table 9: Sources of water

Purpose Water source Distance ( in meter)

Maximum Minimum
Drinking Tube-well 150 20
Cooking River 200 15
Washing River 200 15
Bathing River 200 15

31
Fisher communities use tube-well
tube well for drinking water. Some households especially in
Roghuvanga have to walk 150 meter for drinking water. Sometimes they use tube
tube-well water for
cooking. In case of washing and bathing each household uses river water.

Most off the Fisher communities use tube-well

tube well for drinking water without knowing whether those
tube-well
well are arsenic free or not as those tube-wells
tube wells have not been tested whether it contains
arsenic or not. Some fisher household drink arsenic free water as those tube
ube-wells are certified as
arsenic free.

Is water of tube-well
tube arsenic free?
yes has not been tested

37%

63%

Fig 24:: Percentage of fishers’ households having acquainted with arsenic contamination
contaminati tested/
not tested tube-well

63% of total households are not acquainted with whether tube

tube-wells
wells used by them are arsenic
free or not as still those tube-wells
wells have not been tested. In other word, provision of non arsenic-
arsenic
tested tube-well
well is such few that 63% of total households drink tube-well
tube well water without their
acquaintance with arsenic contamination. So it is essential for aut
authority
hority to take necessary steps
for arsenic contamination testing of tube-wells
tube located in those Mohallas.

What happens when they do not get water from tube-well?

tube well? Answer is river. River is the only
alternative source of drinking water. They use river water without any filtering procedure. Such
they are suffering from different water-borne
water diseases.

32
 Alternative source of drinking water
Source of drinking water
200

0
0

Pond
River
Other

Fig 25: Source of drinking water

Figure 25 shows that the household who have access to tube well, all household collect their
drinking water from river

5.5 Child and Women Right Situation

From
om the study it is found that 71
71%
% of total households send their child to school. Apparently it
seems these households are concerned about child education. But fact is they allow their child to
go to school till primary level
vel as to get stipend given by Government. After that child get
involved in income generating work as to supplement income. Thus they start working at early
age of life.

School going child?

yes no

29%

71%

Fig 26: Percentage of School going child

This scenario can be explained precisely by

by childhood life calendar of Arshad Gazi.

33
Table 10: Childhood life calendar of Arshad Gazi

Life stage Time line Events What happened in Arshad

Gazi’s life
Childhood 1997 River erosion Migration from their own land
-
Present(2012) Went to school

Continued study till class five

Brothers were separated

Living below poverty
line Involved fishing activity

Partial Became earning member of

responsibilities their family

Due to river erosion Arshad Gazi’s family migrated from their own land when he was small
child. He finished study after he had completed primary level. Then he got involved in fishing
activity to supplement family income.

Women are deprived in every sphere of society. There is not any single household in fishers’
community headed by women. They also do not get involve in fishing activity. Violence against
women is quite familiar among Sonargaon fisher community.

To analyze violence against women, a key informant survey has been selected and following
questions were asked. Key informant is a patron fisher among Shatvai Para fishers community.

1. When you think violence against women, what type of violence come to your mind?
2. Women of what age are the worst victim of violence?
3. Whenever a woman became victim of violence, where would she/her family go for
assistance?
4. Are women satisfied with such assistance?

The summary of key informants’ reply is mostly domestic violence occurs. The main reason for
such occurrence is dowry. Besides, fishers earn a little. They cannot afford to meet basic
demands of family. For this reason housewives nag at their husbands and resulting physical

34
torture on wives. A number of sexual assault seems mostly in Char area. Generally women of 20-
30 years are worst victim of violence. Some women are affected by throwing acid.

Generally women do not protest after any type of violence. A few go to elite group for
assistance. They have no faith on police in such cases. Wherever they go for assistance, always
they fail to get justice. Patron-client relationship helps offender to get rid of being punished.

5.6 Access to public institutions

Fishers seem to go in different local public authorities such as Fishery department, Agriculture
Department, Govt. health facility, Union Parishad and police authority. Their frequency of going
to take service is different.

Table 11: Access to public authority

Authority Percentage of households receive service

Fishery department 51.5%
Agri. Department 4%
Thana health complex 100%
Union parishad 43%
Police 26%

Table 11 shows that, that, annually 51.5% of total households go to fishery department. Only 4%
of total households receive service from agriculture department. Each household go to health
complex for treatment as it offers cheaper treatment and no other private clinic exist within this
locality. 43% of total households visit to union parishad for discussing about different local
issues. Fisher community has a little visit to police as they face different adverse situation during
fishing activity. 26% of total households found in such category.

They receive services of different public authorities. The question is “are they satisfied with
authorities services. Different household’s opinion is different here. Their satisfaction level is
categorized into low, moderate and high. Figure 27 describes their satisfaction level.

35
 Satisfaction level
100
90
80
70
60
50 Low
40
30 Moderate
20
High
10
0
Fishery Agri. Govt. Union Police
department Department health parishad service
department

Fig 27: Satisfaction level of fishers’ family on local public authority

Figure 27 shows fishery department’s performance is low according to most of the fishers’.
Some fishers’ agree with moderate level of satisfaction about this department. A few fishers’
opinion is about higher satisfaction. In case of agri. department the situation is poor. A few
fishers’ receive service from here and says about mostly low and a few on moderate. A
significant number of households receive service from Govt. health organization. Most of the
fisher’s family says moderate about Govt. health facility. In case of union parishad, service
delivery is moderate according to most fisher’s opinion. A police service is mostly commented
by low level of service delivery.

5.7 Food security status

Study reveals that, in past 12 months 97.6% of total households skip a normal daily meal because
of not having enough food or money to buy food. Fisher community faces adverse situation
when they see they do not have food for next meals. About 99.4 % of total households suffer
from such situation. Then they have to remain hungry until they do not arrange money to buy
food.

36
Table 12:: Food scarcity of households.

Questions Responses (yes) Percentage of

Frequency Percentage cases
1. In past 12 months, did you of any 160 49.5% 97.6%
member of your family skip a normal
daily meal because of not having
enough food or money to buy food?
2. Did you ever foresee not having enough 163 50.5% 99.4%
food for next meal or for the next day
because of lack of money?
Total 323 100% 197.0%

From household survey it is revealed that in this situation 44% of total households ask for help to
their neighbor or friends and another 29% of total households eat less
less quantity of food. 22% of
total households work more for obtaining money or food. Remaining percent substitute less
expensive food and reduce variety of food and the percentage is 4% and 1% respectively.

Coping machanism
substituting less expensive food reducing variety of food
eating less quantity of food asking for help from neighbor of friend
working more for obtaining money or food
4% 1%
22%
29%

44%

Fig 28:: Coping mechanism against food unavailability

Fisher’s households have to cope because they are not aware of any rehabilitation facility. Not a
sigle households have been found where anyone of family holding VGD/VGF card.

37
 Holding VGF/VGD card
Holding VGF/VGD card
200

Yes No

Fig 29:: Number of households holding VGD/VGF card

There are a number of reasons behind not having VGD/VGF card.

Why not VGD/VGF card?

problem during subscription by official
uneven distribution of good
not aware of this service

41% 45%

14%

Fig 30:
30 Reason behind not having VGD/VGF card

45% of total households replies about problem during subscription by officials. Another 41% of
total households are not interested on VGD/VGF card due to uneven distribution of good.
Remaining 14% of total households are not aware of this service.

38
5.8 Financial debit
As most of the fisher lives fro
fromm hand to mouth, they need to receive loan from different
organization. A few households receive loan to buy necessary inputs
inputs. 72% of total households
receive loan.

Recieve loan?
yes no

28%

72%

Fig 31:
31 Percentage of loan receiving households

Most of the cases fishers receive loan when they feel helpless. They receive loan from different
organization such as NGO (ASA), Govt. organization (BRDB), mohajon (local elite person),
bank (BRAC Bank) and relative/ neighbor.

relative/neighb
or
bank 12%
5%
mohajon
7%

Government NGO
organization 68%
8%

Fig 32:: Percentage of fishers receiving loan from different organi

organization

39
Fig 32 shows that 68% of total fishers receive loan from NGO. Remaining fishers receive from
other organization. Although most of the fishers receive loan from NGO but they are not
satisfied by their service. The reason behind receiving most percentage of loans from NGO is its
availability and publicity and simple procedure of receiving loan by NGO employees. But
problem occurs during repayment of loan.

90
80
70
60
Frequency

50
40
30 high rate of interest
20
10 mortgage
0 grab domestic animal/good
no problem

Fig 33: Incidence during repayment of loan by fishers

Fig 33 is indicating difficulties seem most in case of NGO. Most of the farmers’ response is that
NGO offers higher rate of interest. They cannot afford to repay loan and as a result they grab
domestic animal/good. Govt. organizations performance is better here during repayment. But a
few fishers receive loan from Govt. organization as fishers are not aware of this loan service.
Besides fishers are interested to receive small scale loan along with frequent manner which Govt.
organization does not allow. On the other hand NGO allows frequent small scale loan along with
simple procedure and here lies the reason behind taking loan from NGO by most fishers.
Repayment of loan to mohanjon, bank and relative/neighbor is not beyond difficulties.

5.9 Risk
Fisher community is not out of certain risk. Suddenly their livelihood can be hampered through
occurrence of different calamities. A focus group discussion (FGD) has been conducted between
officials of local Fishery Department, Agriculture Department, Thana Health Complex and

40
Union Parishad to find out risks fishermen and their family experience
experience during their lifetime.
Table 13 presents risks faced by marginal fishers.

Table 13:: Risks faced by marginal fishers

Household Mohalla Community

Natural Rainfall River erosion

Flood
Strong wind
Health and life Injury Epidemic
cycle
Disability
Old age: senility, incapacity and
unexpected death
Social Crime Criminal gangs Social upheaval
Domestic violence
Economic Eligible price of fish failure Market Fishing paused by
jurisdiction Govt.
Political Patron-client
client relationship Disallow
fishing
Environmental Unhygienic sanitation Waste pollution Dragging

Table 13 is showing different types of risks such as natural, health, social etc. how become
causes of anxiousness among fisher’s Households, Mohalla and community.

Fishers’ community is also in a vulnerable condition in case of spreading knowledge about their
rights as nobody has idea about RTI facts. Figure 34 is showing not a not a single household has
knowledge about RTI facts.

Knowledge about RTI facts

200

yes no

requency of households having knowledge about RTI facts

Fig 34: Frequency

41
5.10 Unawareness or Deprivation?
It is common that marginal people are not concerned about their rights. The scenario is not
different in case of Sonargaon fisher’s community. The issue is that, really they are not
concerned or it is result of deprivation?

Following multiple response analysis helps to find out the issue.

Table 14: Multiple responses on matters related with fishers’ right

Questions Responses (No) Percentage of

Frequency Percent cases
1. Is there anyone in your family holding 200 25.4% 100%
VGD/VGF card?
2. Do you know about RTI facts? 200 25.4% 100%

3. Are you facilitated with rehabilitation 200 25.4% 100%

during "Jatka Nidhon Bondho Korun"
program
4. Is anyone of your family a member of 188 23.9% 94%
CBO?
Total 788 100% 394.0%

Table 14 is indicating that, 100% households of fisher community do not have VGD/VGF card
as well as they are not facilitated with rehabilitation during “Jatka Nidhon Bondho Korun”
program. There is not a single person having knowledge about RTI facts. Fisher community may
be criticized by Govt. authority saying that they are not aware of their rights. But actually it is
Govt. Authority’s duty to provide VGD/VGF card, rehabilitation, necessary information about
RTI facts among fishers’ community. Authority do not obey their duty to the mentioned inputs
and resulting deprivation of fishers’.

And, when the question arises on fishers’ awareness, it can be said small portion of fisher
community are aware of their rights. Table 14 shows there is 94% of total household reply “NO”
on the question “Is anyone of your family a member of CBO?” Remaining 6% of total
households are found where at least one member of that family is a member of CBO. Only one
CBO is found in Sonargaon fishers’ community named “Bondhumohal”.

42
 Why CBO?

12
10
8
6
4
Frequency
2
0
To market To cope To concern To fight
fish on with on their against
better price bureaucratic rights violence
problem

Fig 35: Reason behind participating CBO

The objective of “Bondhumohal” is to establish equity for catching and marketing fish (fig 35).
Fishers faces problem during fishing activity. Bound to catch fish in certain area, not having
update information on fish pr
price,
ice, jurisdictional restriction during fishing and marketing activity
by other fishers are arising problems associated with marketing of fish.

Met expectation?
Frequency

11

Yes No

Figure 36: Satisfaction level of joining CBO

Figure 36 indicares that, nobody who joined in CBO have met his expectation.
expectation. Local elite group
prevent their activity. Besides CBO member do not get enough time to participate regular
meeting of CBO.

43
 Participate Regular CBO meeting?
Frequency

Yes Sometimes No

Figure 37: Type of participation in regular CBO meetings

Figure 37 is showing that, most of the CBO members sometimes participate in CBO general
Meetings. Mostly they remain busy in some other work (fig 38). CBO members cannot integrate
schedule of meeting as they have not any fixed working schedule. In this case
cas their right is also
violated as workers must have a fix schedule for working.

Why irregular participation?

Frequency

11
0
0
0
Promlem with
management No faith on
CBO's Busy with some
Board Others
effectiveness oyher works

Fig 38: reason of not participating in CBO general meetings

In fine it can be said that, in most of the cases fishers are being deprived from their rights due to
lack of responsibility
sponsibility of local administration. Fishers’ who have concern on their rights local

44
elite do not allow them to raise their voice. Local administration does not cooperate with fishers
to overcome such situation.

45
 Chapter Six: Conclusion

6.1 Concluding remark

Bangladesh is criss-crossed by many rivers. This country comprises of unlimited resource of

fishing. Fisher community has a great opportunity to proper using such resource. But scenario is
different among fisher community of Sonargaon Upazila. They have been living an inauspicious
life. A few fishers seem prosperous within the community. Here arises the matter of inequality to
the contrast of access to services, facilities, information. Excepting food still marginal fishers are
not facilitated with accommodation by Government. Most of the fishers (46% of total
households) live at others land (given by local elite group) on prerequisite basis of sharing a
proportion of caught fish with them who facilitate fishers’ accommodation. Local
administrations also do not look after at them. Recent dragging activity on river makes fishers’
prohibited in proceeding fishing activity within dragging perimeter. Dragging activity is also
degrading the production of fish from river. Communication and transport system is not available
all day long. Fisher living in Roghunar Char, Komlapur, Shobujbag, Tekpara and Chuadanga
have to cross river everyday for their livelihood. Boat is only transport mode for them which is
not available all time. Besides boat transport includes higher transport cost which is difficult for
fishers to maintain considering total income.

In fine, fishers of Sonargaon Upazila is optimized by resource as Meghna River is crossed across
their community and this river is a great source of “Hilsha” fish. They can meet the demand of
fish specially “Hilsha” all over the country as well as it can be a great source of foreign
remittance by exporting fish to abroad. But nothing can be possible without establishing fishers’
right. Local administration and Fishery Department of Bangladesh Govt. should look after
cordially to on their rights for social uplift of marginal fishers’ in Sonargaon Upazila.

46
REFERENCE
Andersen, J. and Larsen, J. E. (1998) ‘Gender, Poverty and Empowerment’, Critical Social Policy,
Vol. 18 (2): 241-258.

Behrman, Jere R., Harold Alderman & John Hoddinott, (2004), Hunger and malnutrition, Paper
for the Copenhagen Consensus – Challenges & Opportunities, 19 February 2004.

BRAC, (2007) ,BRAC Annual Report 2007, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, Dhaka,
Bangladesh.

Care-bangladesh,(2006), “ Debt and Vulnerability in North-west and south-east

Bangladesh”,Livelihood headlines, CARE Bangladesh Livelihood Monitoring Unit, Dhaka,
Bangladesh.

Dean, M., (1999) Governmentality, Power and Rule in Modern Societ,. London: Sage.

Ellis, F. (2000), Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries, Oxford: Oxford
University Press.

Etzioni, A., (1995), Rights and the Common Good: The Communitarian Perspective, New York:
St. Martin’s Press.

Halim, M. Abdul, (1996), Role of Voluntary Organizations in the Protection of Human Rights at
the Grassroots, BSEHR publication, Dhaka.

Holzmann, Robert & Steen J., (2000), Social Risk Management: A New Conceptual Framework
for Social Protection and Beyond, Social Protection Discussion Paper Series No. 0006, Social
Protection Unit, World Bank, Washington DC.

Hulme, David & Karen M., (2007), ‘Assisting the poorest in Bangladesh: Learning from BRAC’s
‘Targeting the Ultra Poor’ Programme’, BWPI Working Paper 1, Manchester: Brooks World
Poverty Institute, University of Manchester.

Larsen, J. E., (2001), Spatialization and Culturalization of Social Policy: Conducting Marginal
People in Local Communities’, European Urban Research Association, Copenhagen, 17-19 May
2001.

Martinussen, j., (1997), State Society and Market: A Guide to Competing Theories of
Development, Zed Books, London.

Matin, Imran & David H., (2003), ‘Programs for the poorest: learning from the IGVGD program
in Bangladesh’, World Development, 31 (3), 647–665.

OECD, (2006), Promoting Pro-Poor Growth, Key Policy Messages, OECD, Paris.

R-1
Sen, Binayak, (2003), ‘Drivers of escape and descent: changing households fortunes in rural
Bangladesh’, World Development, 31 (3), 513–534.

The Bangladesh Code, Volume I (1989), Tejgaon, Dhaka.

R-2
ANNEXURE
 Appendix - A

Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Marginal

Fishers
A Questionnaire on
Existing Socio-Economic and Rights Situation of Marginal
Fishers
(Questionnaire for office purpose only)

ID:______________
Village:
_________________________
Name of the respondent:
_________________________________________________________________

1. Household Head Information

Sex
Age
Household size
Family type
Educational attainment
Religion
Relation with respondent
Code: Sex- 1= male, 2= female,
Family type- 1= Single, 2= Joint
Educational attainment- 1=illiterate, 2=primary, 3= Class VI-VIII, 4= SSC, 5=HSC, 6=HONS, 7=Masters
Religion- 1= Muslim, 2 =Hindu, 3= Christian, 4= Buddhist
Relation with respondent- 1= self, 2= son, 3= daughter, 4=brother, 5= sister, 6= father, 7= mother, 8= husband,
9=wife, 10= nephew, 11=other (specify)

2. Building materials of the house (Put Tick “ ”)

Component Construction material
Brick Tin Bamboo Straw Mud Others (specify)
Floor
Wall
Roof

A-1
 3. Total Expenditure (Per Month):
Item Cost (taka) Item Cost (taka)
Food House rent
Cloth Transport
Health Other
Education Total

4. Economic condition (Per Month) :

Earning Age Occupation(specify the time) Income (taka) Total
member Very occasional Year round Seasonal
No.1
No.2
No.3
No.4
No.5
Code: 1= fishing, 2.Farmer, 3=Labor, 4=Rickshaw/Van puller, 5=business, 6=service, 7=handicraft, 8=Student, 9=
Farmer, 10= Boatman, 11=others

5. What are your sources of water for different purpose and distance of source from house?
Purpose Source Distance (in meter)
Drinking
Cooking
Washing
Bathing
Code: Source- 1= tube-well, 2= river, 3= pond, 4= other (specify)

6. Asset information:
Productive asset
Non Productive asset
Code for productive asset: 1= Land (shotok),2= chicken, 3= Cow, 4= Goat, 5= Pig, 6=Duck, 7= other (specify)
Code for Non-productive asset: 1=machinery, 2= vehicle, 3=Jewelry, 4= fishing net, 5= Electronics, 6= Mobile
phone, 7= Boat, 8= Other (specify)

7. What type of fishing net do you use? ……………………………………………..

8. Type of land ownership? ………………………………………..

Code: 1= own, 2= rented, 3= govt., 4= other (specify)

9. What kind of sanitation system do you use? ………………………………..

Code: 1= sanitary, 2=hanging, 3= open field, 4= open drain, 5= other (specify)

10. How do you use latrine? …………………………

Code: 1= own, 2= community, 3= shared, 4= other (specify)

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11. Where do you dispose the solid waste? ………………………………..
Code: 1= dustbin, 2= open space, 3= near house, 4= road side,5= river,6= drain,7= other (specify)

12. Does your child go to school? …………………………

Code: 1= Yes, 2= No

13. If no, why? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

Reason Code
Cannot afford 1
Involving income generating work 2
Not aware of education 3
Other (specify) 4

14. Does this house have electricity facility? …………………………….

Code: 1= Yes, 2= No

15. Is the water of the tube-well arsenic free? ………………………………

Code: 1= Yes 2= No, 3= has not been tested

16. If there is no tube-well, then what is the source of water for drinking? ………………………..
Code: 1= pond, 2= river, 3= other (specify)

17. Does this community have access road? …………………………..

Code: 1= Yes, 2= No

18. If yes, then mention following

Road type
Road width in feet
Code: Road type- 1= Pacca, 2= Katcha, 3= Semi-Pacca

19. Do you receive loan facility? ………………..

Code: 1= Yes, 2= No

20. If yes, what type of loan facility do you receive? ……………..

Code: 1= NGO, 2= Govt. organization, 3= mohajon, 4= bank,5= relative/neighbor, 6= other (specify)

21. Which problem do you face during repayment of loan? ………………………

Problem faced Code Problem faced Code
High rate of interest 1 Grab domestic animal/good 3
Mortgage 2 Other (specify) 4

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22. How satisfied are you with the help you receive from following services? Give reason for
your answer.
Type of service Frequency of Satisfaction Reason for level of
use 1= low, satisfaction
(annual) 2= moderate,
3= high
Govt. services
Fishery dept.

Govt. health facility

Union parishad

Agri. Dept.

Police

Other (specify)

Non-govt. services
NGO (specify) ………………

CBO (specify)…………………

Private sector services

If any, specify

23. In the past 12 months, did you or any member of your family skip a normal daily meal
because you did not have enough food or money to buy food?
Code: 1= Yes, 2= No

24. Did you ever foresee not having enough food for the next meal or for the next day
because of lack of money?
Code: 1= Yes, 2= No

25. If yes, how did you cope?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Code: 1) Substituting less expensive food for eaten foods
2) Reducing the variety of food
3) Eating less quantity of food
4) Asking for help from family, neighbors or friends
5) Working more for obtaining money or food
6) Other (specify)

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26. Is there anyone in your family holding VGD/VGF card? …………………….
Code: 1= Yes, 2= No

27. Are you a member of CBO? ………………………..

Code: 1= Yes, 2= No

28. if yes, why did you become a member of CBO?

…………………………………………………………………….
Reason Code Reason Code
To market fish on better price 1 To fight against violence 4
To cope with bureaucratic problem 2 Other (specify) 5
To concern on their right 3

29. Have you met your expectation? ……………………………

Code: 1= Yes, 2= No

30. Do you participate in general meetings? …………………………………….

Code: 1= Yes, 2= No, 3= sometimes

31. If no/sometimes, why you don’t? ……………………..

Code: 1) No faith on CBOs’ effectiveness
2) Busy with some other works
3) Lack of awareness
4) Problem with management board
5) Other (specify)

32. What type of initiatives should be taken to become more successful?

……………………………………….
Code: 1) Stop dragging activity
2) Supplying necessary inputs
3) Upgrading transport and communication system
4) Ensuring accommodation facility
5) Taking necessary steps to prevent river erosion
6) Other (specify)

33. Do you know anything about RTI facts? ……………………………………………….

Code: 1= Yes, 2= No

34. Are you facilitated with any kind of rehabilitation during” jatka nidhon bondho korun”
program? …...
Code: 1= Yes, 2= No

Name of the Surveyor:

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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 Appendix - B
Childhood life Calendar of Arshad Gazi

Life stage Time line Events What happened in Arshad

Gazi’s life
Childhood 1997 River erosion Migration from their own land
-
Present(2012) Went to school

Continued study till class five

Brothers were separated

Living below poverty
line Involved fishing activity

Partial Became earning member of

responsibilities their family

Checklist for In-depth interview

1. Household livelihood portfolio: Sources of income, gender, age, education, marital status

2. Capital in asset building: Natural capital, human capital, financial capital, physical capital,
social capital

3. Social environment: Information services, social networks, market, religion, community

organizations, social norms, cultural norms

4. Natural environment: Access to safe water, sanitation, solid waste disposal

5. Gender issues: Marriage, dowry, domestic violence, vegetable cultivation and gender role,
access and control, role on capital, health risks for women.

6. Health and family planning: Institutions, access to service

7. Seasonality: vulnerability, production of fish, rehabilitation

8. Production & collection of fish: Marketing, jurisdiction

9. Access & control over services, facility and institution

10. Employment and income

11. Politics: Influence, patron-client relationship

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 Key informant interview

1. When you think violence against women, what type of violence come to your mind?
2. Women of what age are the worst victim of violence?
3. Whenever a woman became victim of violence, where would she/her family go for
assistance?
4. Are women satisfied with such assistance?

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