Bangladesh’s aquaculture sector has lost US$140 million over a decade to climate change, a new analysis reveals, highlighting the need for better climate data services.
Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events that are predicted to increase in the near and distant future, the study published in Climate Risk Management highlighted.
It said effective climate information services could help fish farmers reduce aquaculture losses caused by such events.
Flooding appears to be the most financially damaging and regularly occurring hazard for hatcheries, open water fish and shrimp, the study said.
Between 2011 and 2020, floods resulted in an estimated loss of approximately 54,000 tons of aquaculture production, valued at US$93 million.
Typhoons were the second most damaging, causing the loss of 12,000 tons of fish products, worth a total of US$24.8 million.
“Climate information services are a potential climate risk reduction strategy that can de-risk the aquaculture sector by supporting decision-making processes and management of climate-resilient production. fish farmers,” the study said.
These services provide climate data that can support adaptation, mitigation and risk management decisions.
According to the analysis, countries in the global South have been slow to develop climate services for aquaculture due to a lack of awareness about their economic benefits and the focus of such tools on crops.
Peerzadi Rumana Hossain, WorldFish scientist and lead author of the study, said the implementation of climate services in aquaculture depends on support from policy makers.
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Appropriate management of fishery resources with emphasis on conservation of endangered fish as well as environmental and social considerations needs to be promoted in fisheries.
Sudhir Kumar Das, professor, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences
“We have already worked with the Bangladesh Department of Fisheries in developing several proposals for integration at the policy level,” Hossain said. SciDev.Net.
He said climate information generated by the Bangladesh Meteorological Department could be channeled through the fisheries department to help the sector produce advisories and manage climate risks.
“There is also a need for participation and investment from the private sector for maintaining digital platforms for providing climate information and advisory services to all value chain actors of the aquatic food system in the country to enhance climate services at scale,” added Hossain.
More than 91 percent of global aquaculture production (102.9 million tons in 2017) is currently produced in Asia, with Bangladesh ranking fifth globally after China, Indonesia, India and Vietnam.
Fish and fish-based foods provide 60 percent of the total daily animal protein intake for the population of Bangladesh, significantly contributing to nutrition and food security for vulnerable and marginalized people. of the country.
Aquaculture and fishing contribute about 26 percent to Bangladesh’s agricultural gross domestic product, the study said.
But fish farmers are increasingly affected by climate-driven extreme weather events, while data on climate variability – such as erratic rainfall, heatwaves and cold spells – in aquaculture is scarce in country. This makes it difficult to evaluate climate risk management interventions, analysts say.
Hossain recalled how he and his co-researchers witnessed the loss of fish in a hatchery operation in southwestern Bangladesh due to high temperatures and dry spells.
He said the fish farmer told the researchers that if he had known there would be no rain in June and the temperature would be that high (36-40C), he could have scheduled the fingerling stocking season earlier or later.
Sudhir Kumar Das, professor of Fisheries Resource Management at the West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, said that fisheries policy should focus on promoting fisheries and aquaculture to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“Appropriate management of fisheries resources with emphasis on conservation of endangered fish as well as environmental and social considerations needs to be promoted in fisheries,” Das said. SciDev.Net.
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