TITLE: Livelihood on fishing

From time immemorial, a large number of Bengali people have depended for their livelihood on fishing and related occupations. Fishermen community is deemed to be one of the most vulnerable communities in terms of their livelihood opportunities in Bangladesh. Fishing is main occupation for them which cannot be carried out throughout the year.Fishermen in rural Bangladesh usually live a community life in neighborhoods or villages around the water bodies.

They are ignored in respect of the society. Most of them are illiterate and live from hand to mouth. Being very poor, their children often go for fishing rather than going to school. As a result, generation after generation, they remain illiterate and not being able to contribute for the improvement of their community.

Most of the fishermen are very poor and they have limited resources to buy nets and other fishing equipment

Large numbers of the fishermen are facing various problems during fishing and marketing their goods in the local markets. Exploitation of the fishermen by money lenders,lack of sufficient fishing craft (Boat), lack of fishing gears, natural calamities (flood, storm, cyclone etc.), water pollution, increasing Char land, lack of credit facilities, lack of training facilities etc. are imposing threat to livelihood of poor fishers.

AUTHOR: Ibrahim Azam Khan (Bangladesh)

I am a native of Bangladesh and have started my voyage in photography as an amateur photographer.

My primary field of photography comprises of landscapes, nature, human lifestyle, sunrise, sunset, mountains and rivers.

After visiting many places in Bangladesh and associating with the indigenous people, I have collected many pictures which I have taken with my own professional equipment. I have come to realize that I would be able to use my creativity in photography to share details relating to the subject as well as contribute to society by spreading the untold story of many underprivileged people.

While on my voyage, I have noted many youthful children, intrigued by photography. If given the opportunity, I would be delighted to take it upon myself to teach them on how to earn a living by using their photographic skills and by developing their knowledge of surrounding areas to become a travel guide.

Having realized such opportunities, I have fully engaged myself with photography and left my career as Head of Accounts in an environmental organization (NGO), where I served for more than 30 years. I have also developed a webpage to promote my work in photography.