Together We Stand

[ 133 ] Safeguarding data buoys in the Bay of Bengal The data buoys installed by the NIOT in the Bay of Bengal are often damaged/vandalized by passing commercial and fishing vessels. The damage to these ocean observation systems increases the vulnerability of coastal communities including fishing families, as timely information on adverse weather events cannot be transmitted to the Early Warning Centres in India and elsewhere in the region. The NIOT and BOBP-IGO, in association with WMO and its agencies such as the Data Buoy Cooperation Panel, have organized regional meetings with concerned agencies and initiated awareness programmes on the importance of data buoys and the need to safeguard them from damage. Multilingual posters on the importance of buoys was prepared for distribution to fishermen and other maritime agencies. 0.595 mmt in 2013. 3 In Maldives, landings have increased from 0.120 mmt to 0.129 mmt between 2012 and 2013. 4 In Sri Lanka marine fisheries production increased from 0.417 mmt in 2012 to 0.459 mmt in 2014, a record high. 5 On the status of fish stocks, disaggregated analysis shows that many stocks are long past their peak production level. Some species are also showing negative growth during the period 2000-13. Many other studies have also indicated that the region is facing both biological 6 and economic overfish- ing 7 and there is an urgent need to address this problem. The number of active fisherfolk 8 in the region has grown by about 1 per cent per year from 2003 to 2014, although this growth average masks different trends in each country. Indeed, during this period, the number of active fisherfolk has increased by 4.4 per cent per year in Sri Lanka and by 2.3 per cent per year in India (mainland, excluding the Adaman and Nicobar islands and the Lakshadweep islands) In Bangladesh, the number of active fisherfolk increased marginally from 0.510 million to 0.516 million during 2007-2012. In the case of Maldives, the active fisherfolk population has gradually decreased (3.6 per cent decline each year), possibly due to increasing opportuni- ties in the service sector, especially for the younger generation. In terms of fishing fleet composition, non-powered artisanal fishing vessels are being replaced by powered and larger fishing vessels. Although this development has decreased the total number of fishing craft, their efficiency has increased. BOBP-IGO is working with its member countries in areas such as fisheries management, improving safety at sea (occupa- tional safety) and building the resilience of fishing communities. In these initiatives, apart from the large number of national organizations of the member countries, BOBP-IGO is also part- nering with the World Bank Organization (WBO); the United Nations Development Programme; the Food and Agricultural Organization; the International Labour Organization (ILO); the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and its different agencies; the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Government of Japan; the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency; and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health of the USA. Within the aforementioned areas, BOBP-IGO’s specific interventions include the development of sustainable fisher- ies management plans at national and regional levels; building capacities in fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) to curb illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; transfer of technology in the area of personal flotation devices (PFDs) and the design of safer fishing vessels; improv- ing the social security net; awareness-building; and bringing in capacities and concepts to develop new fisheries. In the context of fisheries, livelihood resilience is directly proportional to the resilience of fish stocks. An important feature of the fisheries sector in WBoB is its labour-intensive charac- teristic. Fishermen in this region also lack human and financial assets to move to other livelihoods and as such are engaged in the fisheries sector for generations. Therefore, a worsening fish stock risks both the present and future sustainability of fishers and their families. However, at the same time, these stocks are shared by one or more countries in the region and unilateral effort is unlikely to bring the desired results in sustaining stocks. To address the scenario, the countries are coming together to develop compatible national and regional plans for the Fishing effort in the WBoB region Source: BOBP-IGO, 2013 2 Type of fishing vessel 2007 2010 Growth (%) Powered 180,268 194,209 1.55 Non-powered 148,170 95,298 -7.14 Total 328,438 289,507 A life float — ideal as a low-cost floatation device Image: S Jayaraj, BOBP-IGO T ogether W e S tand