Bangladesh team meeting 2023-12-13

Bangladesh Team Meeting

December 13, 2023

Decisions:

For contamination analysis, samples need to be collected from different levels of the chains, e.g., landing sites, processing yards, wholesale and retail. Since contamination is related to dried fish grading, each grade sample needs to be analyzed.  

• The tentative timeline for the contamination analysis is the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025. Huan Sun, a potential Ph.D. student at the University of Manitoba, will start her program in Fall 2024 and will coordinate the contamination analysis on the Canadian side.  
• Professor Siddiqur and Professor Mahmudul will update the literature review, students' papers, and visual output progress in the next meeting.  
• Professor Samsul Alam will update on the illustrated book in the next meeting, and Professor Derek Johnson will review the submitted budget for it and provide his comments.
• Professor Siddiqur and Professor Mahmudul will have a meeting with Sara Nur to inform her of all the available options for the Master/Diploma programme and let Professor Derek know about her decision.  
• The next Bangladesh team meeting is on February 6, 2024. DFM central will send out the invitation shortly.  

Minutes:

Derek Johnson: With our relatively limited resources, one of the most effective strategies would be to select the five most important species or products and then sample across different geographies at different times.  

Sami Farook: The top species are rapidly changing due to demand pressure and ecological changes.  

Derek Johnson: Due to the high degree of variability, we need to think carefully about in terms of the interpretation for the remaining part of the project. The impact of climate change, demand pressure, and government policies like different fishing bans are changing the market dynamics.  

These are key findings coming out of Sami’s PhD. DFM can retain him in some capacity as a kind of post-doc to explore the implications of these dynamics.  

Sami Farook: A monthly team meeting is a fantastic idea, but I am unsure how much I can join or contribute in the next two months, considering my fieldwork schedule.  

Derek Johnson: You can contribute by reading the updates and providing written contributions.  

Rumel Halder: In terms of sending dried fish samples to UoM or ICSER for contamination analysis, do we have any timeline?

Derek Johnson: The timeline to receive the samples is after September 2024. It’s related to the human resources for the analysis on the Canadian side. A PhD student, Huan Sun, will coordinate the job on the Canadian side and is expecting to start her PhD in September 2024.  

Samsul Alam: December 2024 or January 2025 will work for the BAU team because it is the peak time for drying.  

Derek Johnson: The timeframe fits with the project timeline as well. By then, Sami and Mahfuz’s Ph.D. will be finished, and their findings will help stratify the sample properly.  

Huan Sun did a contamination analysis of twelve to fifteen species, a mix of marine and freshwater. Her Master’s will be finished soon, probably defending in January, and then her thesis and findings will be open to all. One of the limitations of her work is the lack of details on the sampling and sources of the fish. In future sampling procedures, we’ll select the samples from which we have sufficient background information.  

Samsul Alam: Tracing of fish is important; if we collect any sample from the market, we must have information on the source.

Sami Farook: Contamination can happen at the market level; therefore, we have to collect samples from the market, maybe from the warehouse, as well. For example, can collect a sample of Bombay duck from the production zone and one from the market.

Samsul Alam: Fish can be contaminated because of the water because of the polluted river waters. If we are ambitious, we must also look for water sources (fish habitat). We can collect and analyze some raw fish to examine the contamination at the habitat level. Also, we can collect samples from the landing site.  

Emdad Haque: We can use GPS coordinates to trace the fish sources. It can open a very interesting avenue for spatial analysis. I highly recommend using GPS-based coordinates for the sample collections.  

Derek Johnson: The discussion of contamination links the Bangladesh team with the Indian team, maybe with the Cambodian and Sri Lankan teams. It requires further discussion that we can have in the Working Group 2 meeting. The consumption side is also linked to the group; Sami is doing the consumption survey in Bangladesh, looking at the public health impacts and preferences.

Samsul Alam: The amount of dried fish consumed has a correlation with the contaminants. Are we asking the respondents about the quantity?  

Sami Farook: The survey covers the quantity and grading of dried fish; we are covering all the details. It covers both the stated preferences and revealed preferences. We ask about the stated preferences like the quality of dried fish they prefer, prices, and so on.  

Samsul Alam: Some relations between dried fish price and contamination might exist. What are your findings?  

Sami Farook: Contamination is absolutely linked to dried fish price. The lower the price, the more pesticides are added. For example, the highest grade of Ribbon fish sold at 2500 taka/kg has no pesticides added.  

Derek Johnson: That means you have to collect samples from each grade but also at different points in the value chain. However, the highest grade can be contaminated over the value chain.  

Sami Farook: Sometimes it becomes more complicated; for example, a producer has three grades, and by the time the product reaches the retail market, these three grades become five grades. I don’t know how to address this.  

Derek Johnson: Sami’s point reminds me of the consumption side. Knowing the dried fish consumption patterns across Bangladesh, who consumes what? We can then make policy recommendations.  

Sami Farook: Dried fish is very popular in Cox’s Bazar; they have been eating it for generations, and they are aware of the grading and contaminants. So even the poorest segment, if they buy dried fish, they buy the top three categories because these categories are not typically contaminated.  

Derek Johnson: The survey findings will really cement the contribution of DFM in Bangladesh to the social economy of dried fish, covering working group 2 and 3. However, there is more interest in the broader socio-cultural context of dried fish in Bangladeshi diets. I want to make sure that we also pay close attention to that in the second phase of DFM.  

Mahfuz has come to a really very subtle understanding of economic governance in Bangladesh. Issues like power, contamination, cost-cutting measures, and their health impacts are critical. The careful ethnographic work of Mahfuz can help us add subtlety.  

Mahfuzar Rahman: For the second phase, we need to think of a model project like the one proposed by the Cambodia team, linking producers with the consumers for trust building and quality improvement. This kind of project will benefit producers, consumers, and the overall dried fish sector.

To add to Sami’s point, even the highest-grade product can be contaminated, even though the producers didn’t intentionally add pesticides. Contamination can happen during the processing using the same equipment, water.  

Also, my study finds that an increasing number of dried fish are imported, primarily from India and Myanmar, but are sold as Bangladeshi products. These imported fish are lower in quality and more contaminated. But are imported for higher profit. So, it raises the question of traceability. To address the contamination questions, we must look at the sources of the fish.  

Another issue that I found critical in the governance of dried fish in Bangladesh is the syndication of arotders and wholesalers in the major market, controlling the whole dried fish sector in Bangladesh. If we are considering taking any intervention project in the second phase, we should consider these issues while finalizing it.  

Sami Farook: The syndicate right now mainly works in Asadgonj; it is very difficult to make a change in the marine dried fish market. It is a very tough syndicate to break. But in freshwater, the scenario is different. Masimpur has some control, but they are losing it.  

Derek Johnson: The discussion reinforces the idea that we should have regular monthly meetings. Another major area of DFM is gender and social economies, and so far, we haven’t talked about gender and gender labour. I would like the Bangladesh team to think about the second phase, how to internalize the gender and labour dimension.  

Sara Nur may join a Masters's program at the University of Manitoba or a college program in filmmaking if she prefers.  

Another update is that Prof Siddiqur is coming to the University of Manitoba for some time as an adjunct professor after completing his department head period at Jahangirnagar University.

Let's think about a meeting in January to move forward with the discussion and develop the proposal or planning document for the second phase.  

Samsul Alam: We already have some sort of responsibilities regarding institutions and individuals; it will be good to follow that plan. Professor Saiful will conduct a systematic literature review.  

Siddiqur Rahman: Mahmud and I also plan to write a piece based on the scoping report. We are also planning to write pieces from the three master’s research done at JU. Mahmud and I will lead on these papers. Mahmud will also work on a visual output. The literature review paper is already prepared; we just need to refine and polish it. In the next meeting, we can update you on it.  

Samsul Alam: Regarding the illustrated book publication, the manuscript is ready and needs very few corrections.  

Derek Johnson: So, you need funds to publish the book. In the next meeting or before that, please send me an update on the illustrated book.  

Samsul Alam: I already sent you the publication cost.  

Derek Johnson: What about the next meeting?

Siddiqur Rahman: The team’s idea was to meet every two months, so we can go by that principle; the meeting can be held in the third week of the month. In the meeting, we can sit down and brainstorm where we stand in terms of our promises and work.  

Derek Johnson: A monthly meeting makes sense for the next couple of months. We can revisit the idea once the plan is worked out and finalized. Does the first week of February work for you for the next meeting? Let’s mark February 6 for the next meeting. We’ll send out an invitation. Mahfuz will send out the minutes; based on it, I will ask the Bangladesh team to draft an action plan and maybe circulate that before the meeting on February 6.  

Siddiqur and Mahmud, we need to talk about the best option for Sara before February 6. We should have a separate meeting. The application deadline for the Fall 2024 session is mid-January 2024; she needs to apply before the deadline. She has to decide whether she wants to do a Masters or Diploma in communication.  

Emdad Haque: There is another possibility that the whole team can think of; NRI has a practicum program which requires an institutional partner, e.g., NGO, CNRS could be a partner, and Sara Nur can work under Derek and Siddiqur. This is another option you can think of for Sara Nur.  

Derek Johnson: Thanks Emdad. I suggest Mahmud and Siddiqur have a conversation with Sara Nur and inform her of all the available options and let me know her decision.  

Thanks to all for joining the meeting.