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People working in aquaculture on the coast of Bangladesh report safety challenges including exposure to chemicals, waterborne diseases, respiratory problems, and musculoskeletal pain. Women also face reproductive health risks related to collecting wild fish fry and processing activities. Aquaculture is an important and growing source of employment, and is central to food security, livelihoods and national income in Bangladesh.
However, worker safety has not been a priority, and progress on improving safety outcomes has been slower compared to other areas of the economy in Bangladesh, such as the garments sector.
The effects of climate change are compounding existing safety challenges while also reshaping which aquaculture activities are viable in coastal areas. Understanding how to manage new and existing safety risks as the aquaculture sector adapts to climate change is critical for ensuring its sustainability, and for meeting policy priorities on climate change, fisheries, and labour reform. Yet, there is limited evidence of the connections between occupational safety and health issues and climate change.
Our research aims to increase knowledge and understanding of these safety challenges, while also generating innovative solutions to improve safety outcomes for aquaculture workers.
A scoping review will map what is already known – and what we don’t know – about the intersection of safety and climate change in coastal aquaculture. We will look at the causes of poor safety outcomes, interventions to improve safety, and barriers to changing safety practices. While our project is focused on Bangladesh, the review will include evidence from other coastal lower- and middle-income countries.
Building on the evidence review, we will conduct participatory action research in Satkhira district, southwestern Bangladesh, where an estimated 76,000 people are employed in aquaculture activities, mainly shrimp and crab farming. This will centre the voices of workers themselves through the research process, with the aim of generating both context-specific knowledge about the problem, and ideas about how to address it.
Given the evolving nature of the challenge, and in order to ensure that our research is used effectively to bring about positive change, we will invite stakeholders from government, civil society and the private sector to participate in interviews and dialogues throughout the project.
We hope that in the long term, this research will increase the safety of people who work in aquaculture or earn a living from aquaculture-related activities. This includes fish farming communities; seasonal, migrant and informal labourers; and fish workers, such as processors and traders, who are often women.
We aim to achieve this by involving local workers and their advocates in the research process, thereby increasing their capacity to identify safety hazards and develop local solutions. We also aim to encourage uptake of our evidence by stakeholders, and to influence labour policy and industry practices, by engaging, convening and communicating with key stakeholders throughout the project.
Through participatory action research, our project aims to centre the experiences and contributions of aquaculture workers themselves, including the informal workers and women who are typically excluded from research and the design of interventions on safety at work. Participatory action research has been successfully used to address safety challenges in other sectors, and we hope that our project can demonstrate its usefulness for improving safety in aquaculture and maritime systems more broadly, too.
We are hoping to hear from local and national experts and stakeholders as part of the research process. This will include community members and local organisations, government bodies, industry representatives, and worker associations and trade unions. We also plan to share our findings with the media, with the international safety community, and with policymakers and aquaculture practitioners worldwide.
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