The Perception and Impact of Natural Hazards on Fishing Communities of Kutubdia Island, Bangladesh
Natural hazards lead to unexpected and often dire situations for people who have few resources and little control over the environment in which they live. Kutubdia, an island in the southeastern part of Bangladesh, experiences frequent natural hazards that impact the livelihoods of its people and put them in vulnerable situations. The research elaborated here is the result of 300 household surveys collected from persons in Kutub- dia's fishing communities. The surveys investigated the perception and consequences of natural hazards on the fishing communities. The results indicated that the experience of natural hazards—cyclones, erosion, and flooding are examples—have increased over the years. Coastal erosion displaced seventy-two (24 percent) fishers, forcing them to relocate their houses several times and imposing multiple challenges on their lives. Literacy was not associated with perceptions of environmental changes or changes in fishing. However, young fishers—less than forty years of age—perceived that environmental changes had affected fish catch more than their older colleagues. Keywords: natural hazards, perception, fishing communities, Kutubdia Island, Bangladesh In Bangladesh, fish and fisheries are an inseparable part of the day-to-day life and livelihoods of the people. The fisheries sector plays a significant role in alleviating protein shortages, providing jobs, earning foreign currencies, and the socioeconomic development of Bangladesh. The fisheries sector contributes 4.43 percent to the national GDP and 22.21 percent to the total agricultural GDP (DoF 2011). Currently, fisheries are the second largest export sector in Bangla- desh (Chowdhury, Sukhan, and Hannan 2010; Wahab and others 2012). In the fiscal year of 2010-2011, the total of the country's export earnings from this sec- tor was 2.73 percent (DoF 2011). An estimated 1.4 million people are engaged fulltime and 12 million people as part time in the fisheries sector (Ahmed, Halim, and Sultana 2012). An overwhelming majority of these people are con- centrated in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. The total population living in the coastal zone of Bangladesh is about 36 million (Islam 2004). The livelihoods of coastal communities are highly dependent on agriculture, fishing, forestry, transportation, and salt farming (Miah, Bari, and Rahman 2010). Although the people of Bangladesh are, in *We would like to acknowledge the Gandhi Scholarship and Beck Research Fund provided by the Depart-