Risk Wise

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Programme

of the Food and Agriculture Organization

(FAO) of the United Nations in Chennai, India from

8-12 October 2001. This workshop discussed various

issues impacting the safety of small-scale fishers at sea.

The most significant output of this regional initiative

was the ‘Chennai Declaration on Sea safety’, which

resolved to effectively meet the challenges through

holistic fisheries management, adherence to manda-

tory requirements, installation of regulatory

mechanisms, community involvement and education

and training. The full text of the Chennai Declaration

is included in this article.

The Chennai Declaration recommended that the

issues of sea safety be addressed on an urgent basis.

Keeping this in mind, several initiatives have been made

in the BOBP-IGO member-countries in South Asia

(Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka). Based on crit-

ical analyses of the factors that affect the safety of

small-scale fishers, it can be summarized that the most

important factors contributing to increased accidents

and fatalities at sea are: open access to fisheries and

excessive fishing effort; increased competition among

different categories of fishers; reduced profitability;

rienced a slowing growth rate, leading to fishers moving offshore in

search of catch.

Increasing human population and reduced productivity of coastal

fisheries through unsustainable fishing practices, habitat degrada-

tion, post-harvest losses, etc. threaten the livelihood of millions of

small-scale fishers in the Bay. Given that coastal resources, particu-

larly near-shore resources, are exploited close to, if not beyond

sustainable levels, improving the management of fisheries and the

safety and health of fishers is of immediate concern.

Safety at sea of small-scale fishers

Fishing has been recognized as the most dangerous occupation with

more than 24,000 deaths per year. These figures originate from those

countries where a sound database exists on fishing related fatalities

and accidents. If figures were included from those countries where

no surveillance and monitoring, or an inadequate mechanism for

this, is in place, the annual figures of deaths at sea would be much

higher. The large number of fishing-related mortalities, especially in

the developing countries, is attributed to weaknesses in the institu-

tional and regulatory environment, a declining resource base and the

poor socioeconomic condition of the fishers.

A Regional Workshop on ‘Sea Safety for Artisanal and Small-

scale Fishermen’ was organized by the former Bay of Bengal

An FRP traditional boat (Oru), Negombo, Sri Lanka

Image: Yugraj Yadava

A wooden boat returning from a fishing trip, Teknaf, Bangladesh

Image: Yugraj Yadava