Underpinning the criteria for the sustainability assessment of Hakaluki Haor using the RAPFISH tool

Abstract

Hakaluki Haor, rich in fish and wildlife, has been declared an Ecologically Critical Area and recommended as a Ramsar site. The fisheries and aquatic wildlife of Hakaluki Haor have declined drastically and continue to face sustainability challenges. The present study has demonstrated an evidence-based multidisciplinary tool, RAPFISH (Rapid Appraisal Technique for Fisheries), was applied to underpin the status of fisheries sustainability of Hakaluki Haor. Exploiting the RAPFISH technique flexibility, out of 51 indicators, we customized (omitted, added, and modified) the 46 indicators under five dimensions of ecological, economic, social, technological, and management, appropriate for inland fisheries of Hakaluki Haor. A questionnaire interview with 150 fishers was carried out based on the selected indicators of the five RAPFISH dimensions. The sustainability indicators were subjected to a validation process based on feedback from fishers, using the Weighted Sum Model and Analytic Hierarchy Process. The WSM index indicators with scores over 0.5 and the top-ranked AHP indicators were primarily adopted to assess the sustainability of the fisheries. The results revealed that indicators under the ecological dimension were the most vulnerable condition, followed by the social, technological, economic, and management dimensions. In this circumstance, to keep the fisheries resources of Hakaluki Haor in a sustainable condition, the government, particularly the Department of Fisheries, is required to give special attention to effective management and conservation strategies by prioritizing comparatively weak indicators.