Can adaptive co-management reduce poverty and inequality in the coastal fishing community? An impact evaluation in the riverine system in Bangladesh

Adaptive co-management is an effective tool for reducing poverty among poor fishers who lives in the coastal fisheries. This approach can ensure the highest possible sustainable output from capture fisheries, increasing revenue and reducing inequality. Using household panel data from coastal areas of Bangladesh, this study assessed the impact of ECOFISH project’s adaptive co-management approach on poverty, income and inequality through difference in differences (DiD) method. Using two-stage cluster sampling, data was collected from 1200 fishers’ households of six coastal districts, which were separated into project and control groups. Poverty and inequality were measured using the Foster–Greer–Thorbecke (FGT) indices and Gini decomposition, respectively. In addition, a fixed-effect model was also employed to identify the factors influencing their income change. The findings from DiD reveal that the project had a positive impact on the fisher’s income, especially in the case of fishing and on-farm sources. Due to the unconfined implementation in open-water fisheries, the study had minor effects on inequality. However, the adaptive co-management approach effectively reduced poverty among the fishers. Moreover, the intensity and severity of their poverty situation had significantly declined. The fixed-effect model elicited that ECOFISH has successfully increased fishing and total income, whereas the off-farm income was curtailed. The household head’s age, size, fishing boat ownership, varied livelihood, social network, and household assets contributed to a considerable rise in overall income. This research could help policymakers in the food systems approach make better judgments on poverty reduction.