BOBLME  India  

National  Inception  WorkshopVishakhapatnam,  India  •  6-­‐7  May,  2010

Bay  of  Bengal  Large  Marine  Ecosystem  Project

BOBLME-­‐2010-­‐Project-­‐06

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Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystems (BOBLME)Project National Inception Workshop- India

Vishakhapatnam 6 – 7 May 2010

Proceedings

The National Inception Workshop of the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME) India was held at the Hotel Green Park, Visakhapatnam during 6 – 7 May 2010. The Workshop was attended by 93 participants from different organizations, representing a cross section of stakeholders including fishers’ organizations, NGOs, fish processors, fishing industry, Central and State Governments, and research institutes (List of participants in Annex-1).

Inaugural Session

During the Inaugural Session, Dr. K. Vijayakumaran, DG FSI and National Coordinator welcomed the Chief Guest, Guest of Honour, the other dignitaries and the delegates to the Workshop. The Meeting was inaugurated by the Chief Guest Dr. P. Krishnaiah, Chief Executive, National Fisheries Development Board in the presence of Dr. Gavin Wall, FAO representative for India and Bhutan, who was the Guest of Honour. The inaugural function, presided by Dr. V. V. Sugunan, Assistant Director General ICAR, was attended by Dr. Chris O’Brien, Regional Coordinator and Dr. Rudolf Hermes, Chief Technical Advisor of BOBLME, Dr. Y. G. K. Murty, Dr. E. Vivekanandan and Mr. V. Vivekanandan.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Krishnaiah highlighted the importance of living marine resources in the food and livelihood security of the poor people in the Bay of Bengal Region. He exhorted the project to address the key issues of ecosystem degradation by developing informed scientific solutions and implementing national action plans. Dr. Gavin Wall expressed the hope that BOBLME will address all critical issues and the underlying causal agents and barriers which are contributing to a decline in the health of the Bay of Bengal region. He pointed out that problems facing the fisher communities in the Bay of Bengal cannot be tackled through unilateral/bilateral approaches. He stressed the need for joint action by all stakeholder countries with active participation of both State and non-State players.

In his presidential address Dr. Sugunan highlighted the fact that a quarter of humanity resides in the littoral regions of the Bay of Bengal making it the most important LME in the world in terms of livelihood support and food security. Dr. O’Brien explained that the aim of the BOBLME project was to provide a means for the eight participating countries to work collaboratively and devise a plan to recover the health of the Bay of Bengal, rejuvenate its living resources, and improve the livelihoods of the coastal populations. Over the next five years, the work will focus on strengthening and harmonizing the management capability in each participating country, and gaining a better understanding of the major marine resources and the environment, he said. Dr. Hermes, explained the context and background of the project and highlighted its salient features and achievement made so far. Dr. Y G K Murty identified pollution and overfishing as the two key issues needing immediate attention.

Technical Sessions

Technical Session I

During the Technical Session I that followed, three key-note papers were presented by the experts to provide a background and flag the key issues. Dr. Prasanna Kumar of the National Institute of

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Oceanography presented the salient oceanographic features of the Bay of Bengal and Dr. E. Vivekanandan, of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute gave an overview of the marine fisheries of the Bay. Shri V. Vivekanandan spoke on the socio-economic milieu under which the marine fishers of the Bay of Bengal operate. These were followed by a presentation by Dr. V. Sampath on the lessons learnt from the Phase I of BOBLME. During this Session, Dr. Chris O’Brien, Regional Coordinator and Dr. Rudolf Hermes apprised the audience about the Project.

Dr. Prasanna Kumar explained the changing oceanographic conditions within the BOBLME and its coupling/impact on the structure and functions of the ecosystem. He suggested publication of a Newsletter by BOBLME and encouraging the stakeholders to publish articles to that of IMBER, CLIVAR. Dr E Vivekanandan underscored the importance of stock assessment, ecosystem-based simulation models, development of strategies for mitigation of and adaptation to the climate change impacts, and addressing the social and equity issues. Shri V. Vivekanandan proposed development of India-specific fisheries management methodologies, which might also be in convergence with the requirements of other countries. Highlighting transboundary fishery issues in the Palk Bay to Palk Straits, he expressed the need for detailed documentation of fishing communities and their values systems in the context of community based fisheries management.

Dr. Sampath briefly outlined the activities of the Phase I of BOBLME, which included establishment of a community of researchers who kick-started the process of debate on key issues and putting in place mechanisms for communication and coordination such as Programme Steering Committee and International Scientific Review Group, National Coordinators, National Task Forces and National Scientific Review Groups. Several stakeholder consultations and scientific meetings were the highlights of the Phase I, which were held for the synthesis and assessment of extensive regional and national information available on oceanography, marine environment, living marine resources, estuarine and coastal habitats, coastal zone development, socio-economics, law, and pollution in the BOBLME. Five thematic and eight National Reports, three Workshop Reports were published.

Dr. Chris O’Brien in his presentation outlined the background and context of formulation of the BOBLME and explained the objectives, funding pattern and modes operandi of the Project, which covers 3.9 million km2 of area and relates to the lives of 400 million people living in eight countries around the Bay of Bengal. Dr. O’Brien explained the four ecological criteria on which the Project is based viz., ecology, bathymetry, hydrography and productivity & trophodynamics. He presented the five modules of BOBLME project viz., Pollution & ecosystem health, fish and fisheries, governance, socio-economics and productivity along with their indicators. Dr. O’Brien concluded his talk by providing the current status of the Project and the challenges that lie ahead.

While talking on the ‘Methodology, deliverables and timeline’, Rudolph Hermes, Chief Technical Advisor, explained how the project aims at achieving sustainable utilization and equitable sharing of marine resources within the framework of Ecosystem Approach (EA) in the Bay of Bengal. He highlighted the importance of strategic action plan, based on collective approach among the littoral States, to overcome the adverse impacts the LME faces in the form of habitat degradation, anthropogenic pressure on resources, natural calamities and climate change.

Dr. Hermes narrated how the Project aims to achieve this task through its five components viz., development of strategic actions plan (SAP), resource management, understanding of environment, ecosystem health and effective communication. In this process, a transboundary diagnostic analysis (TDA) is the key input. He explained the process of developing a TDA framework and eventually getting it approved by the stakeholders in all participating countries before integrating these into the Strategic Action Plan (SAP).

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Technical Session II and III

During the Technical Session II participants were allowed to express their views on the issues and generated a number of suggestions to strengthen the action plan of BOBLME (Annex II).

During the Technical Sessions and III, the participants split four groups for focused discussion on the following areas: i) fisheries resource management (under the leadership of Dr E Vivekanandan), ii) Socio-economics and governance ((under the leadership of Shi V Vivekanandan), Ecosystem and Oceanography (under the leadership of Dr Prasanna Kumar) and Coastal zone management (under the leadership of Dr Ramasubramanian)

The Groups discussed issues relevant to implementation of the BOBLME Project and came out with their considered opinions and suggestions on the project action plan. As the group comprised a spectrum of stakeholder interests, the views expressed were divergent, covering a wide range of subjects. These were further reviewed by the Regional Coordinator, Chief Technical Advisor and the National Coordinator. The issues identified the Groups are:

poverty alleviation in small scale fisheries; over-exploitation of coastal and offshore waters and the resultant threat to poor coastal fisher populations; informed policies to create and govern sustainable and equitable fisheries management regimes; loss of livelihood due to conservation measures and provision for alternate livelihood; education, empowerment and raising of quality of life of fishers; evaluation of the effectiveness of existing fishing ban regimes; strict implementation of CRZ and MFRA regulations; critical area development programmes; regulation of mechanized fishing fleet size; registration of all fishing vessels; geo-referenced fishery dependent data; stock enhancement through sea ranching; open sea floating cage culture; impact of Tsunami; impact of pollution from oil drilling spills, merchant ships wastes, and land based sources; climate change; natural calamities; sea safety; mangrove regeneration; falling tuna landings off AP coast; strategic plan for sustainable utilization of resources beyond coastal waters; improved technology and infrastructure to minimize post-harvest losses; and use of ICT tools for awareness building among fishers regarding sustainable use of fishery resources.

At the end of the Workshop, Dr. Chris O’Brien, Regional coordinator summarized the Action Plan and presented a roadmap for their implementation. The Meeting concluded with a Vote of Thanks by Dr. K. Vijayakumaran, National Coordinator.

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Annex-1

Participants at National Inception Workshop of BOBLME Project- Visakhapatnam 6-7 May 2010.

Sl. No.

Name Affiliation / Organization

1 Dr V V Sugunan ADG (Fy), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi

2 Dr P Hari Prasad Centre for Studies on Bay of Bengal, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam

3 Dr K Satish Kumar Centre for Studies on Bay of Bengal, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam

4 Dr K Vijayakumaran Fishery Survey of India, Mumbai

5 Shri Premchand Fishery Survey of India, Mumbai

6 Shri A Tiburtius Fishery Survey of India, Mumbai

7 Shri Ashok S Kadam Fishery Survey of India, Mumbai

8 Dr S K Naik Fishery Survey of India, Visakhapatnam

9 Shri Gavin Wall FAO- Representative for India-Bhutan, New Delhi

10 Dr Chris O’Brien BOBLME RCU, Bangkok, Thailand

11 Dr Rudolf Hermes BOBLME RCU, Bangkok, Thailand

12 Shri V Suresh Joint Director of Fisheries, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh *

13 Dr K S Rao Former Principal Scientist, CMFRI, Visakhapatnam

14 Dr S Prasanna Kumar National Institute of Oceanography, Goa

15 Dr U Sreedhar Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Visakhapatnam

16 Dr L N Murthy Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Visakhapatnam

17 Dr E Vivekanandan Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi *

18 Dr V Sampath Ex-Advisor, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Chidambaram*

19 Shri M Nagaraja Kumar Indian National Centre for Ocean Information System, Hyderabad*

20 Shri G Nayanappa Central institute of Fisheries Technology, Visakhapatnam

21 Dr P Laxmilatha Senior Scientist, Regional of Centre CMFRI, Visakhapatnam

22 Dr Pratibha Rohit Senior Scientist, Regional of Centre CMFRI, Visakhapatnam

23 Shri L Loveson Edward Scientist, Regional Centre CMFRI, Visakhapatnam

24 Dr M Balaji Scientist, Institute of Wood Science Technology, Visakhapatnam

25 Ms Muktha Menon Scientist, Regional Centre of CMFRI, Visakhapatnam

26 Shri S Reuben Former Principal Scientist, CMFRI, Visakhapatnam

27 Prof N Subba Rao School of Distance Education, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam*

28 Dr M M Prasad Central institute of Fisheries Technology, Visakhapatnam

29 Shri Ritesh Ranjan Scientist, Regional Centre of CMFRI, Visakhapatnam

30 Dr G Sudhakara Rao Former Principal Scientist, CMFRI, Visakhapatnam

31 Shri G Subba Raju Former Principal Scientist, CMFRI, Visakhapatnam

32 Shri M A Thalha Indian Coast Guard, Visakhapatnam *

33 Shri J B Dash Dy. Director of Fisheries, Orissa *

34 Dr Y G K Murty Association of Indian Fishery Industries, Visakhapatnam *

35 Shri K S V V P Reddy, I.F.S. Director of Environment, Chennai *

36 Dr M Umamaheshwara Rao Former Professor of Botany, Andhra University

37 Capt N Venkateswaralu Deep Sea Fishing Technocrats Association, Visakhapatnam

38 Shri C V N Rao Former Principal Scientist, CIFT, Visakhapatnam

39 Cdr. C S Panda Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam*

40 Dr D Imam Khasim Principal Scientist, CIFT, Visakhapatnam

41 Dr G Luthur Former Principal Scientist, CMFRI, Visakhapatnam

42 Shri M V Hanumantha Rao Central Institute of Fishery Technology, Visakhapatnam

43 Shri J V H Dixitulu Chief Editor, Fishing Chimes, Visakhapatnam

44 Dr G Rajeswari Senior Scientist, CIFT, Visakhapatnam

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45 Shri Eashwar Dev Anand Managing Editor Fishing Chimes, Visakhapatnam

46 Shri S H Razvi Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Kakinada

47 Dr Suresh Babu P P Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Kakinada

48 Shri R R S Patnaik Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Kakinada

49 Dr T V R Murthy National Institute of Oceanography, Visakhapatnam

50 Dr Y Sadhuram National Institute of Oceanography, Visakhapatnam

51 Prof D E Babu Dept. of Zoology, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam

52 Shri A Siva Fishery Survey of India, Visakhapatnam

53 Shri V Vivekanandan Advisor, SIFFS, Thiruvananthapuram*

54 Dr. Bhami Reddy Fishery Survey of India, Visakhapatnam

55 Shri M A Yakub Basha Assistant Director of Fisheries, Andhra Pradesh

56 Shri S B Sarma Integrated Costal Management, Kakinada

57 Dr R Ramasubramanian MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Kakinada

58 Prof N S Sarma Dept of Marine Chemistry, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam

59 Dr P Krishnaiah Chief Executive, NFDB, Hyderabad

60 Dr R Jayakumar National Fisheries Development Board, Hyderabad *

61 Shri V Uma Mahesh Fishery Survey of India, Visakhapatnam

62 Shri Subha Rao National Fisheries Development Board, Hyderabad

63 Shri N. Jagannath Fishery Survey of India, Visakhapatnam

64 Shri A Tharani Fishery Survey of India, Visakhapatnam

65 Shri Appa Rao Fishery Survey of India, Visakhapatnam

66 Shri Krishne Fishery Survey of India, Visakhapatnam

67 Shri D Kaseenadh Staff Reporter, Media Vision, Visakhapatnam

68 Prof A V Raman Dept. of Zoology, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam

69 Dr S K Agarwal Fishing Industry, Visakhapatnam

70 Shri S P Chaturvedi Dy. Commissioner (Fy), DAHDF, MoA, New Delhi *

71 Shri V Padmanabham President, Sea Food Exporters Association, AP Region, Visakhapatnam

72 Shri Habibullah Central Institute of Fisheries Nautical Engineering Training, Visakhapatnam

73 Shri S Babu Central Institute of Fisheries Nautical Engineering Training, Visakhapatnam

74 Shri B Sudarshanam Joint Director, Dept of Fisheries, Visakhapatnam

75 Prof Sugata Hazra Dept of Oceanography, Jadhavpur University, Kolkata*

76 Dr Madhumita Mukherjee Joint Director, Fisheries Department, West Bengal*

77 Shri B Bhaskara Rao Fishery Professional, Visakhapatnam

78 Shri D Mohan Fishery Professional, Visakhapatnam

79 Shri P G Sreenath Assistant Director, MPEDA, Visakhapatnam

80 Shri U L Prasada Rao Director, Cyclone Warning Centre, Visakhapatnam

81 Shri P R V Prasad Assistant Meteorologist, Cyclone Warning Centre, Visakhapatnam

82 Dr G V M Gupta Centre for Marine Living Resources, Cochin

83 Shri P Lakshmana Rao Fisheries Development Officer, Visakhapatnam

84 Ms Biji Xavier Regional Centre CMFRI, Visakhapatnam

85 Dr G Maheswarudu Regional Centre CMFRI, Visakhapatnam

86 Dr Ansuman Das Fishery Survey of India, Visakhapatnam

87 Shri Arjilli Dasu DFYWA, NGO, Visakhapatnam

88 Dr R Kirubagaran National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai *

89 Shri Sanatan Das Fishery Survey of India, Visakhapatnam

90 Shri P Papa Rao Fishery Survey of India, Visakhapatnam

91 Shri K N Swamy Fishery Survey of India, Visakhapatnam

92 Shri B V Raghavraju NGO, Life Care, Visakhapatnam

93 Shri Anil Kumar NGO, Life Care, Visakhapatnam

*National Task Force (NTF) members

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Annex II

Issues identified and actions suggested by the participants in the Inception Workshop of BOBLME at Vishakhapatnam India during 6-7 May 2010

Coverage of the Project is too extensive and it needs to be trimmed down with main focus

on Ecosystem Approach (EA) Participation of NGOs will benefit the project by making it inclusive, but care is needed to

identify the right NGO partners The issue of loss of livelihood due to conservation measures needs to be addressed and

avenues should be explored to provide alternate livelihood to those affected More focus needs to be given on poverty alleviation in small scale fisheries segment Impact of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the coastal corridor on the livelihood of fishers Conflicts of interests between traditional fishers and industrial/entrepreneurs regimes to be

minimized by seeking agreements and tradeoffs Education, empowerment and raising of quality of life of fishers promote fishing in deeper waters beyond 100-120 m using mid-water trawling Addressing the issue of over-exploitation in coastal waters Fleet size, particularly mechanized vessels, needs to be regulated All fishing vessels need to be registered Modernization of fishing harbours and fish landing centres with GMP and handling practices The existing fishing ban regime needs to be evaluated for its effectiveness in improving

overall stock Advantages of traditional beach-based fishing activities need to be weighed against the

harbor-based approach Development of a strategic plan for sustainable exploitation of resources beyond coastal

waters Adverse impact of motorization/mechanization on the traditional fishers need to be

assessed and mitigation plans developed Effective management of fisheries in EEZ to address the issue of reckless over-exploitation of

offshore waters and the resultant threat to poor coastal fisher populations Methodologies need to be developed for fast and effective collection of fish catch data Geo-referenced fishery data need to be made available to fishers All participating countries need to pay attention on application of remote sensing techniques

to assist fishers in exploiting the resources in the offshore region and on building capacity among fishers

Development of new, species-specific fishing gear for targeted fisheries is needed More focused studies are needed on the discards, species replacement/disappearance, and

occurrence of new species Stock enhancement through sea ranching of different species of shellfish and fin-fish Enabling the fishermen societies to adopt open sea floating cage culture Impact of Tsunami on the BOB ecosystem needs to be assessed Effect of industrial pollution, oil drilling spills and wastes from merchant ships on the

ecosystem and fishery resources of BOB needs attention Impact of climate change including sea level changes, currents, El-Nino/La Nina, natural

calamities, sun spot activities and sea safety measures need to be covered under the action plan

Effective control of land-based source of pollution is needed

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Critical area development programmes such as those located outside the protected areas i.e., mangroves, corals located in areas other than biosphere reserves/reserve forests need to be given priority

Investigations are necessary to ascertain the causes of falling tuna landings off AP coast, especially at Vishakhapatnam

Studies on food-chain dynamics to enable informed decision-making on fish stocks and their exploitation are needed

Emphasis on improved technology and infrastructure to minimize post harvest losses needed

Increased use of information and communication and tools (ICT) for awareness building among fishermen in BOBLME area for protection and sustainable exploitation of fishery resources

Promotion of mangrove regeneration Need for strict implementation of CRZ and MFRA Development of informed policies to create and govern sustainable and equitable fisheries

management regimes Working towards a compatible policy, legislative, legal and institutional environments in the

participating countries to minimize conflicts and achieve the BOBLME objectives of sustainable and equitable use/sharing of marine resources in the BoB.

Bilateral/multilateral/regional understanding on sharing of resources to be developed among countries

There is need for improved legal framework in monitoring and controlling pollution from industries in BOBLME coastal areas

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