ECFC PROJECT: Mobilizing Costal Communities in Protection, Conservation and Management of Coastal Fisheries Resources (CBFM) under Empowerment of Coastal Fishing Community for Livelihood Security (ECFC) Project. Coastal communities comprises of a large part of the national population with livelihoods directly or indirectly related depending on fisheries resources in coastal and marine waters in Bangladesh. But due to over fishing, in absence of proper management and natural hazards the fisheries resources are being depleted and biodiversity is degraded. If measures are not taken, over-exploitation of the resource, depletion of the resource base and the degradation of biodiversity in the coastal ecosystem will result in increased risks and vulnerabilities as well as shrinking options to support livelihoods and improve the quality of living. On a wider plane, if the yield from coastal fisheries should decline as a result of this trend, the animal nutrition security (with 60% of national protein intake coming from fish) of the entire nation will be in jeopardy.

The Coastal fishing community are mostly poor, assets less, unorganized and disadvantaged group of people in the society. They depend on the advantaged group of people like the boat/gear owner, money leader and exposed to manmade and natural hazards including depletion of coastal resources on which they are depend for their livelihoods. They do not have social, institutional and financial capacity to address those issues for sustainability and security in their livelihoods.

They need to be organized and capacity built-up to address the vulnerability issues including involving themselves in protection, conservation and management of the coastal and marines fisheries resources. In view of the above a pilot project namely Empowerment of Coastal Fishing Community on Livelihood Security has been under take by the Government (DOF) with technical and financial support of FAO/UNDP for implementation in Cox's Bazar d