Tomorrow Today

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cyclones, which often come without sufficient warning and are the

cause of thousands of fatalities at sea every year. The BOBP-IGO has

prepared jingles and snippets in the Bangla language on safety at sea

to be broadcast through Bangladesh Betar.

Comic books as a medium of education

Of the several communication tools that the BOBP tried, the comic

book format was one of the most successful. Its first comic book,

Our

fish, our wealth

, cut across the barriers of sex and age and became

highly popular. Published in 1992, the comic book promoted aware-

ness of the mechanisms of fisheries management among small-scale

fishers. Subsequently, comic books were also produced on the

subjects of cleaner fishing harbours and good practices in shrimp

farming, becoming instant hits.

Other communications tools, such as puppetry, folk theatre, street

plays and video films, have been successfully used by the BOBP

and the BOBP-IGO. The BOBP used video technology for training

and information dissemination as early as 1985. Several video films

prepared by the Programme are popular within and outside the region.

Catch ’em young

As sustainability implies that future resource users must be trained

to take responsibility, the BOBP and later the BOBP-IGO undertook

many programmes and activities aimed at fisher children. It was also

considered important to make children aware, as early as possible,

of the value of protecting the natural environment. In Maldives,

a colouring/work book titled

Life on our reefs

was published for

primary schoolchildren on the islands. The main purpose of this

book was to encourage the children to:

• Critically examine their natural environment

• Learn about the impact of humans on the coral reefs

• Consider what could be done to help safeguard the future of

coral reefs.

After the December 2004 Asian tsunami, which devastated the fisheries

sector in India, Maldives and Sri Lanka, the BOBP-IGO in December

2005 organized a painting competition for school chil-

dren in the affected countries, with the objective of

sensitizing the children to such natural calamities. The

2006 annual calendar of the BOBP-IGO featured some

of the best paintings from the three countries. Several

organizations partnered with the BOBP-IGO in this

initiative. In 2009, a poster on cetaceans of the tropical

Indian Ocean, printed by the BOBP-IGO, was distributed

to all the schools in Maldives to create awareness among

school children of the importance of cetaceans in ocean

life. The poster was prepared in response to a request

made by the Vice-President of Maldives.

Training women as link workers

Fisherwomen play a pivotal role in sustaining and

developing the family. It has been observed that

income earned by women is more likely to be spent

on food and other basic needs than income earned by

men. Consequently, it is recognized that an increase in

women’s income is more likely to improve family status

than increased household income per se.

The BOBP implemented a project on activating fisher-

women for development through trained link workers

in Tamil Nadu, India. The project aimed at providing

fisherwomen with the required basic education and

training to enable them to serve as links between village

women and government officers. Several link workers

were trained and worked for many years in their villages

and surrounding areas. Women’s self-help groups have

been established in many fisher villages in Tamil Nadu

thanks to these link workers.

Taking the Code to the grassroots

The Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, or

simply the Code,

is one of the best examples of collec-

tive effort in global fisheries. Signed by the members of

Colouring books help schoolchildren to critically examine their natural environments

Disseminating knowledge – a sample of the publications of the Bay of

Bengal Programme

Image: S Jayaraj, BOBP-IGO