An Empirical Study on the Socio-Economic Condition of Fishermen Communities of Ashulia, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract

This is an empirical study that explores the socio-economic conditions of fishermen living along the Turag River which is a peri-urban area of Dhaka in Bangladesh. By using a mixed-methods approach, this study combines a household survey of 150 fisher households with in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, case studies, and key informant interviews conducted in the villages of Rostompur, Paragram, and Noapara. The analysis is guided by the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF), which enables a comprehensive understanding of how environmental, economic, and institutional factors interact to shape livelihood outcomes. The finding shows that it is a multidimensional crisis. The intensive and destructive environmental degradation caused by industrial pollution has significantly exhausted the stock of fish, which             is the main natural capital of the community. Households are highly vulnerable socio-economically with low literacy (88.7% primary school education and less), precarious incomes (60% earn           600 BDT or less/day), poor housing, and limited access to formal credit, resulting in their              having to rely on exploitative middlemen. Diversification of livelihoods into the daily labor and informal labor is more rampant but is a sign of coping and not of an upward mobility. There is a strong change in intergenerational shift where 85% of parents are not encouraging their children to become fishers, but again lack of funds and education is creating a barrier towards other dreams. This study adds a SLF-enlightened holistic perspective of how interconnected environmental, economic and institutional failures entrap and leave peri-urban fishing communities in a vicious cycle. It finds that this cycle cannot be broken without combined policy action targets on ecological recovery of Turag River, greater education and professional training, better access to credit, and greater government to rein in pollution and market abuse. This study highlights the necessity of the sustainable development approaches that would balance between economic development, social welfare and environmental health in rapidly urbanizing contexts.