Understanding the access to livelihood assets and fishers' perceptions towards local practice for wetland fisheries sustainability

This study was conducted to explore the livelihood status and fishers’ perceptions of local fisheries management practice in the Ashura floodplain of Dinajpur, Bangladesh. Data were collected from July to December 2020 through a semi-structured questionnaire. Five different forms of livelihood capitals (assets) were studied. From the human capital view, most of the fishers belonged to the 36-55 years age group. About 8% of fishers were illiterate and 56% could only sign their names. 10% of the fishers had no formal training. 67 % of the fishers had annual incomes ranging from 20000 to 36000 BDT,.  while 27% of fishers were in the medium income group (36001-72000 BDT) and 6% were in the high-income group (72001-108000 BDT per year). On the social capital aspect, 48% of the fishers had no organizational participation. Physical capital showed had the highest index value of 2.31, which indicates a relatively good availability of physical resources, while financial capital recorded had the lowest index value of 1.39, suggesting a very poor economic condition. Several problems were reported, including malnutrition, lack of other employment opportunities, insufficient releasing and stocking of fish seed and brood fish, insufficient educational institutions, lack of community-based fisheries management etc. Among them, malnutrition (PCI, 243) was the major problem in this area. It can be concluded that the fishers’ community needs more institutional, organizational, financial, and social support to improve their livelihood status in the Ashura wetland area of Dinajpur, Bangladesh.