Together We Stand

[ 132 ] Building partnerships to improve resilience and safety of fisher families in the Bay of Bengal Yugraj Singh Yadava, Director; and Rajdeep Mukherjee, Policy Analyst, Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organisation, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India T he Bay of Bengal (BoB) region comprises the exclu- sive economic zones of eight countries: Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, hailand and Myanmar and the high seas. The western BoB region (WBoB) includes Bangladesh, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka, which are also members of the Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organisation (BOBP-IGO), a regional fisheries advisory body. Approximately 2 million people in the WBoB region depend on marine fisheries as a primary source of their livelihoods. In addition, the sector also provides a substantial part of the livelihoods of a much larger population in upstream and downstream activities. Activities in the marine fisher- ies sector in the WBoB region include the development of national and regional efforts in sustaining marine fisheries resources, improving occupational safety for fishers and building the resilience of fishing families. The total fishing effort in the region is increasing as observed from the growing number of fishermen and the replacement of non-powered fishing vessels with powered fishing vessels. In terms of marine fish landings, while in India the landings seem to have declined during 2012-2014, in other countries the picture is still positive. However, fish stocks in the region as a whole are showing signs of pressure. The total marine fish landings in India have declined from 3.94 million metric tonnes (mmt) in 2012 to 3.78 mmt in 2013 and further to 3.59 mmt in 2014. 1 In Bangladesh, landings have increased from 0.588 mmt in 2012 to Image: S Jayaraj, BOBP-IGO Promoting monitoring, control and surveillance in the fisheries sector T ogether W e S tand