Fish Watch: building riverine management capacity in western lowland Nepal
Key Facts
FUNDING SCHEME Scoping
VALUE £2,890
WHERE Nepal
Summary
The objectives of the trip are to lay the foundations and develop the in-country collaborations for a longer term programme that will build capacity for fisheries management within Nepal through the following activities:
a) Conduct a fisheries management training needs assessment with relevant staff from the Nepal Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC).
b) Travel to Bardia National Park and spend four days conducting site visits to both Babai and Karnali river systems. These will include participating in river-based rhino poaching enforcement team patrols to see how their activities might be expanded to encompass fisheries management activities.
c) Meeting with Dr Shant Jnawali and the NTNC team to develop and write the content for a main application to the Darwin Initiative.
d) Spend two days visiting Dr Madhav K. Shrestha, in the Aquaculture Department
Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS) in Rampur, Chitwan. Dr Shrestha is involved with an international organisation called Aquaculture without Frontiers that looks to transfer sustainable aquaculture technology. As small-scale, native species aquaculture can be an alternative livelihood for fishing communities in Nepal, we plan to accept Dr Shrestha’s invitation for a site visit to one of their model aquaculture project sites in Chitwan.
e) Meet with faculty and staff at Tribhuvan University (Kathmandu) to explore the potential of developing a fisheries management curriculum within the university.
f) Hold meetings with the Fisheries Research Division (Nepal Agriculture Research Council, NARC), the Fisheries Development Centres (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries Development Division) to explore the potential of developing fisheries management training courses.