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WORKING PAPERS - BOBP/WP/95 Biosocioeconomic Assessment of the Effects
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Executing Agency: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Bay of Bengal Programme Madras, India, 1994 |
| The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. |
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© FAO 2004
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Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) have proved very successful in the Maldives, where there is a countrywide FAD installation programme by the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture (MOFA) underway. The main reason for the success of FADs in the Maldives is their applicability to the existing fisheries. With the motorization of the fishing fleet, the efficiency and range of operation of the fleet has increased. FADs help not only to reduce searching time and fuel costs, but they also considerably increase production. Although the aggregation of fish around FADs has been demonstrated successfully and the merits of FAD-fishing proven, data on the cost-effectiveness of FADs are still lacking. MOFA, with the assistance of the Bay of Bengal Programme’s (BOBP) regional ‘Bioeconomics’ project (RAS/91/006), therefore, undertook to assess and quantify the impact of FADs in tuna fishing. The project installed two FADs in two separate areas in the Maldives and closely studied the biological, economic and sociological effects of them on the fisheries and on the island communities in the two areas. The effectiveness of the two FADs was measured by comparing data collected one year before and one year after their installation. The results of the study are presented in this paper. The study was funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). |
1. INTRODUCTION
2. METHODOLOGY
2.1 FAD specifications
3. RESULTS OF FISHING
3.1 Fish near and away from the FAD
3.2 Fishing methods
3.3 Species composition of the catches
3.4 Monthly catch rates and production
3.5 Size composition of tuna species
3.6 Costs and earnings
4. SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE ISLANDS
4.1 Income
4.2 Assets
4.3 Changes due to installation of FADs
4.4 Attitudes and responses of fisherfolk to the introduction of FADs
5. MAJOR FINDINGS
I. Catch rates and production before and after deployment of FADS
II. Length-frequency distribution of Skipjack tuna and Yellowfin tuna near FAD and away from FAD, in Areas 1 and 2
III. Cost and earnings analysis of fishing before and after deployment of FADS
IV. Income of fishing households before and after FADS
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