Fisheries extension services: their role in rural development
At the lowest levels of rural existence, there is no room for
failure because there are no reserves. The failure of migratory fish to appear
in their appointed season, the loss of a catch through gear failure, loss of
gear through stress of weather or the loss of a batch of processed fish through
spoilage are major disasters. In extreme cases, such disasters lead to
starvation and death. No one should be surprised, therefore, if peasant
fishermen are reluctant to give up established and thoroughly tested practices
in favour of untried innovations. This is especially so when the new practices
are presented by people who would probably starve on the beach if they tried to
make a living out of fishing, fish handling or fish marketing.
Arguments against new practices range from, 'that is not our
way', through, 'maybe that does work elsewhere but it won't work here', to, 'the
spirits would not approve of that'. At the root of the speaker's objections lies
the knowledge that his own operations are on such a tiny scale and offer such
low margins of profit that he cannot afford to experiment. He dare not take any
unnecessary chances with his all too fragile means of livelihood. So changes
come slowly and, at each stage, the profitability must be adequately proved and
demonstrated before a new practice can become acceptable. There is seldom any
problem in introducing changes which can be shown to be profitable or to make
life easier. The introduction of synthetic materials for net and line
manufacture and of internal combustion engines to drive fishing craft are
obvious examples. So is the use of ice to preserve the catch although it is
often much more difficult to effect improvements in product quality. Such
improvements almost invariably raise the price of the product as, of course,
does icing and most consumers in developing countries are unable to pay a
premium price for better quality, much as they may prefer a better product.
Problems of relocation
If we define rural development as the improvement of the living
standards of the people living in rural areas, we need to look far beyond the
concepts of fisheries development which are usually uppermost in the minds of
fisheries department administrators. Typically the eight or nine million
artisanal fishermen of the tropics live in small groups in ramshackle housing,
totally lacking the amenities of modern life such as piped water, electricity,
effective sanitation, education, and perinatal, medical and dental care. Often
villages are isolated by poor roads; some can be reached from outside only by
water; some are seasonally inaccessible. So development requires attention to
all these factors, as much as to the improvement of fishing boats, fishing gear,
berthing or beaching facilities, and handling, processing, preservation and
marketing methods.
One simple way to overcome many of the difficulties would seem
at first sight to be to uproot entire villages and move them to new locations
where the facilities, previously lacking, either exist or can readily be
provided. This is seldom an acceptable solution. Many of the people involved are
fishermen/farmers who own housing and land (Lawson, 1972). The land which
provides much of the villages' subsistence could not easily be provided
elsewhere. There are religious objections, too, based on such factors as the
desire to be near ancestral graves; these and similar factors render the people
immobile. Most Governments are already battling against the ill-effects of the
city ward drift of the peasantry and would wish to do nothing which might
increase or accelerate this.
However, the main reason for deciding against relocation of
whole villages lies in the factors which are responsible for their development
on the existing sites. The most obvious of these is proximity to the fishing
grounds which include estuaries, mud flats, shallow banks, lagoons, mangrove
swamps and coral reefs. Such grounds can be fished most profitably from small
vessels of shallow draught and, in producing fish from such areas, the artisanal
fisheries can make useful contributions to the economy (Cole, 1973). Long runs
to and from the grounds reduce fishing time, and thus profitability, and, of
course, increase the time the fishermen are at risk in times of bad weather.
Research and development
The fish landed in these villages often include both low bulk,
high value items, such as prawns and crawfish, on which export industries may be
based, and bulky low value items, such as mussels, cockles and clams, which
provide cheap food of high quality. These artisanal fisheries also provide much
employment using low levels of capital inputs; such important national assets
should be developed so that the fisheries continue productive while the people
involved enjoy at least some of the amenities of life which many take for
granted. This usually requires that improvements are made in both the working
and living conditions. While some of the improvements may be paid for by the
injection of capital from outside, in the long run the improvements, or at least
the maintenance of these, must be paid for by increasing the profitability of
the fishing and fish marketing operations, thus increasing the real income of
those engaged in the fisheries. James (1977) elaborates these points.
The development of the industrial elements of an artisanal
fishery requires, as does the development of any other fishery, that all sectors
of the industrial operations should be considered for improvement. Thus, a
proposal to fish further to seaward or to use bigger nets may generate a need
for bigger boats of deeper draught, which in turn need deeper water and mooring,
more fuel and ice, and which demand a higher degree of skill in the crew. The
heavier catches expected will require more, or possibly different, processing
facilities, bigger or more markets, more transport and better roads and possibly
the development of an export market with the attendant necessity to meet foreign
standards of hygiene, packaging and product quality. Thus expertise in a number
of very different specialisations might be needed, and there will be a need for
research and development (R&D) in many of these specialisations.
R & D is, of course, totally wasted unless the results are
applied and, in the case of the artisanal fisheries, the results must be applied
by people who suspect that all change is not necessarily for the better. Like
any other people, they are likely to accept advice most readily from someone
they trust as having their best interests at heart. R & D must, therefore,
logically be followed by extension work (E) and, particularly in the artisanal
fisheries context, it makes better sense to talk of R, D & E rather than R
& D alone. It should certainly not be assumed that extension can stand alone
either, for there are few cases where unmodified technology transplants
successfully from temperate to tropical conditions.
Thus, the development of an artisanal fishery in most
circumstances requires a modest amount of applied research and a great deal of
hard work at the basic village level by officials (or non-officials) who have
received adequate technical training, understand the intricacies of the
technical and socio-economic aspects of the industry and are trusted and
respected by the people who run the industry. This should be an extension
service. During visits to eighteen developing countries in 1974/75 (in South
East Asia, South America and Africa), no single fisheries extension service was
found which was thought to be even reasonably effective. So perhaps it may be
worthwhile to examine the concept of a fisheries extension service in somewhat
greater detail.
Organisation and administration of extension services
Wherever possible the extension service should be organised at
the national or federal level rather than at the state or other subsidiary
level. Of course, much good extension work is done by universities, regional
laboratories and similar organisations. This is particularly so in the developed
countries where the fishing industry is at an advanced level and where high
level expertise is needed. In these situations, the industry solves the simpler
problems for itself. Those working in the industry are educated to secondary
school or higher levels and, if they cannot resolve a problem themselves, they
can contact a laboratory or other organisation and explain their needs. The
illiterate or semi-literate peasant fisherman cannot do this and needs a very
different kind of service. He needs someone close at hand who can satisfy his
simpler needs and can translate the more complex needs into terms easily
understood by the more expert. Simple problems can often exist undetected for
years, simply because there is inadequate contact between the fishermen and
those paid to serve them. Sometimes there appears to be no contact at all
between Government and the fishermen, other than the minimum required for the
collection of taxes and statistics.
This essential contact between Government and industry requires
the employment of rather large numbers of people at the village level and the
basic principle of the fisheries extension service is the employment of workers
who live among the fishermen. Such people must inevitably be trained as
generalists rather than as specialists. This means that their skill and
knowledge in any particular subject will be limited and will, indeed, often be
rather basic. They should be trained so that they can identify the need for a
particular kind of expert assistance and know where this can be found. Thus, the
service as a whole should be able to draw on the expertise and experience of
various branches of the fisheries department, other government departments,
research and experimental stations, universities, and the fisheries training
institutes and schools. Co-operation from these organisations would best be
assured by central controls.
Control structures
Where the fisheries department is responsible for fisheries
development, it follows that the fisheries extension service should be a branch
of the fisheries department. Other arrangements are, of course, possible but
this is the one that usually seems to work best. Among other things, this
permits financing of the service from the national treasury. It also provides
for one of the essential requirements of the extension service, i.e., that those
employed should work on a full-time basis. It also helps to provide a career
structure offering the possibility of promotion within the extension service or
into other branches of fisheries work. If the service is organised on a very
small scale, it can provide few posts above the basic level and a further
problem is that it cannot provide adequately for specialist posts for
technologists above this level. The very smallest countries, of course, can
afford to employ only one man as a fisheries extension worker and must seek from
outside the expertise which he is unable to provide.
A further reason for suggesting that the extension service
provided by universities and similar bodies in the developed countries would
prove unsatisfactory in the developing world, is the need for assistance with
the socio-economic factors which control living, rather than working, conditions
in the artisanal fisheries of the developing country.
A senior member of the fisheries department should be in charge
of the extension service and it is preferable that he should have no other
duties. In addition to employing approximately one worker for every 500 fishing
families, the service should employ people in a supervisory grade at a ratio of
roughly one to every five field workers; in very large countries, it may be
necessary to employ people who control the supervisors at a similar ratio.
Whether it will be necessary for the service itself to employ specialists or not
depends largely on the size of the country and the way in which the fisheries
department is organised. Where the extension service is large, it is obviously
best to employ specialists who are trained in their own technology but have also
been taught how to operate as extension workers. Where the service is smaller,
it is certainly not essential that specialists should be employed; the
specialists employed in other branches of the fisheries department can be
trained for extension work and be required to perform extension duties as part
of their normal functions.
Terms and conditions for the extension workers
The terms and conditions of service for the extension workers
should be made as attractive as possible. It is extremely important that
extension workers should be able to travel freely and quickly through the
district in which they are required to work. In some cases, it may be possible
for them to do this on a pedal bicycle but this is an energy-sapping and
time-consuming means of transport. It is usually better to provide extension
workers with motor bicycles; these are more useful than motor cars or other
forms of four-wheeled transport in the isolated village conditions in which they
are working. They should be taught to ride, service and maintain these.
All that has so far been said about the workers applies with
equal force to their wives and families. It is important for the service to keep
the wives and families happy in their isolation and arrangements should be made
so that, as far as possible, they can enjoy the facilities available to the
wives and families of workers at equivalent levels in the towns. Where this is
impossible, an allowance should be paid.
One of the tenets which is often quoted by people discussing the
organisation of an extension service for agriculture, fisheries or allied
industries is that the extension worker should not be burdened with any duties
other than those normal to an extension service (Maunder, 1972). As far as is
possible, it is certainly desirable that the extension worker should be able to
concentrate full-time on his extension duties. The fisheries extension worker
must be seen by the fisheries community as their friend: someone who is on their
side, rather than a member of a revenue-collecting government department. Most
fisheries departments have some responsibility for collecting revenue in the
form of licence fees for fishing boats, fishing gear or both; because the
officers who work in this department are seen as part of the government, they
are often suspected of being in league with the collectors of income and other
taxes as well. This is another powerful reason for saying that fisheries
extension workers should be used solely as extension specialists wherever this
is possible.
It must be recognised, however, that, in some countries, it is
impossible to employ specialists for extension work because the country simply
cannot afford this. In these circumstances, the fisheries assistants who have
other duties, such as the collection of fisheries statistics, may also have to
do the extension work. It is, however, best if licensing duties are not
undertaken by these people. It is always possible to arrange for a team from
regional or national headquarters to undertake licensing duties so that the
extension worker is seen by the fishermen as being part of a different
organisation.
Responsibilities of the extension branch
While the head of the fisheries department will obviously be
responsible to the government for the control of the department's expenditure,
the head of the fisheries extension branch should be responsible for the
preparation of an annual budget for extension work and should control it. This
should include capital expenditure for major items which the extension branch
needs for its work, annual salaries for the staff, and recurrent expenditure for
purchase of minor items, travel and similar matters. This should enable the
extension branch to plan its work rather more than one year ahead; indeed the
branch should normally be planning the work that it will be undertaking during
the next two or three years. Similarly, the extension branch should be
responsible to the head of the fisheries service for the recruitment of
extension workers and for their training. The branch should not be responsible
for the recruitment of specialist technologists; generally, it is better if
these are recruited by the fisheries service. The extension branch should, of
course, be responsible for training specialists in extension work and for the
preparation of extension material.
Very few fisheries departments have arranged to give regular
broadcasts to fishermen; these have generally been extremely well received and
have proved very useful in circumstances where there is a considerable variation
in fish prices either seasonally or from one part of a country to another. A
very limited number of training manuals suitable for artisanal fisheries is at
present available. For some of the simpler technologies, it should surely be
possible to prepare suitable manuals in one of the major languages of the world
which could be translated into local languages wherever they are needed. There
are, of course, some difficulties in this; even the illustrations which would be
needed are not necessarily universally applicable.
Finally the extension branch should be responsible for regular
reports to the head of the service indicating the progress that has been made.
More important, it should perhaps be responsible for preparing an annual
assessment of the effectiveness of the various aspects of the work of the
extension service.
The head of the extension branch must obviously be responsible
to the head of the fisheries service for the planning of future work as well as
for the execution of the current programme. Equally obviously, any programme
which is developed should comply with the objectives of the national development
plan where one exists. However, while the head of the branch has this
responsibility, he and his headquarters colleagues should not attempt to produce
a master plan without consulting right down to the working level. The successful
extension worker will be a self-reliant, intelligent individual who is in close
contact with the people he serves. Together, they inevitably have a much clearer
idea, not only of what is needed but also of what is practicable, than the
headquarters staff. Planning should stars 'from the bottom up'.
In consultation with the members of the community he serves, the
extension worker should plan a programme of work at least one year in advance;
where problems which will obviously need a long-term solution exist, the
programme may well look two or three years ahead. The programme should include
possible means of solving the problem and must be agreed with the worker's
superiors. They may be able to suggest alternative solutions and must, in any
case, be aware of the budget that will be needed to see the plans through and of
the calls that may be made on other staff, such as specialists. The plan should
include the problems which most urgently require solution but, within these,
there should be a list of priorities and the worker must, of course, also be
prepared to tackle unforeseen problems on an ad hoc basis whenever these arise.
Work of the field staff
The work of the extension staff in an artisanal fishery is very
different from the work pattern followed by the members of a university staff
who undertake extension work. The university worker normally lives in a
community apart from that in which the fishermen live and he is almost
invariably a specialist. The extension worker in the artisanal fishery, on the
other hand, is a generalist and he lives right among the people with whom he
works so that he can develop an understanding of the pattern of life in the
fishing community. He must learn how local conditions affect the way in which
fish are caught or cultured, the way in which they are processed and marketed,
and how these operations are financed. He also needs to know how profits and
earnings are used. Thus, the first task of any extension worker newly appointed
to a particular district must be to prepare an inventory of the capital
equipment available, including the human resources, and the ways in which these
are employed (Yaseuda, 1972).
In preparing his inventory, the extension worker should note any
obvious deficiencies in the infrastructure (such as lack of berthing facilities,
communications, transport and marketing facilities) as well as noting what
particular skills are present or absent in the community. He will succeed in his
job only when he gains the confidence of the community in which he is working
and must, therefore, be on the look-out for obvious deficiencies which can be
quickly and easily remedied. Examples might include: the placing of leading
marks or lights in the approach to the landing point; the marking of a known
hazard to navigation; improving the supply of engine spares, fuel, bait, salt or
ice; making dental, medical and perinatal facilities available on a regular
basis; improving marketing or storage facilities. If he does find that something
simple is obviously lacking, he should not proceed to make good this deficiency
without consulting the community first; many communities have a pet project of
their own. If the extension worker can discover what this is and, if it is
something which is practicable, then he should go ahead with this rather than
attempting to introduce a project of his own. His own projects are likely to be
equally important, or more important, than the ones that the community prefer
but it is also important that the community should recognise early on that the
extension service is intended to help them, not to indulge its own 'fancy' ideas
(Cole, 1975).
Identification and handling of problems
As soon as the extension worker has obtained a good working
knowledge of the pattern of life in the communities for which he is responsible,
has established good working relationships with the members of the communities,
and has set out his inventory, he should identify the most important and urgent
problems in consultation with the communities and should work on these. He must,
of course, prepare a work plan and discuss this with his superiors. He should
meet his immediate superior at least once a month, report on the previous
month's work and outline his plans for the coming month. In some cases he may be
able to find solutions to local problems himself. In other cases, he will need
to seek the help of colleagues or workers from other departments. Sometimes
no-one in the government will be able to help and he must go to a commercial
company for assistance. However, it is important that problems should be
reported up through the service because sometimes the answer to a particular
difficulty will already be available, a solution having been found in another
part of the country or elsewhere. Sometimes no answer is readily available and
research is needed to provide a solution.
The extension worker can, thus, be an important link between the
research stations and the fishing communities. This is one of the many reasons
for saying that research stations carrying out fisheries work should be under
the direct control of the officer in charge of the fisheries service. It then
becomes possible for the extension branch to ensure that the work which they
know is needed is given proper weight in the programme of work of the research
stations. The immediate superiors of the fieldworker should require that he
provides regular reports, which can conveniently be submitted verbally, as well
as in writing, at a monthly meeting. The reports should note progress achieved,
new problems that have arisen and any other matters of interest in the area in
the worker's charge. There will be failures as well as successes and the reasons
for both must be assessed and analysed; the service as a whole should adopt a
very flexible outlook and be prepared to modify and change its plans as this
becomes desirable.
A list of national objectives is, of course, a useful guide to
the individual worker; a number of districts can often work on the same aspect
at one time. The provision of literature is then a simple matter and the
districts can be backed up with radio or television programmes.
Education
An extension programme is essentially an educational programme;
the extension worker has to create situations in which others can learn and be
stimulated to learn through the teaching systems (Bradfield, 1966). Since no two
people have precisely the same physical or mental ability, some will learn
faster than others; some will learn most easliy by listening, others by seeing,
doing or by discussion. Some people will need all four processes, so the
extension worker must be prepared to vary his approach and to use a variety of
methods.
Suitable methods fall into three broad groups: those used with
individuals, those used with groups and mass methods. Contacts with individuals
may include home visits, office calls, casual contacts and personal letters.
Home visits can be particularly useful since they provide opportunities for
discussion of private problems which may not take place in other circumstances;
they also give the extension worker an opportunity to meet the families as well
as the fishermen to learn about family problems. Particular care is needed in
writing letters to give advice. These should be as simple and to the point as
possible and all letters must be readily understandable. Whenever possible, a
suitably illustrated fact sheet or pamphlet should be sent rather than a long
personal letter. Even where there is no regular postal service, it is often
possible to send letters by hand through delivery men or, for instance, through
fish buyers.
Once an extension worker becomes known in his district, he can
expect to do much useful work by means of casual contacts made in such places as
fish markets, gear supply shops and boat yards or even by visiting fishing
villages. Fishermen who do not come to his office or who cannot write will
contact him informally in this way and he should treat these approaches just as
seriously as the more formal ones.
Proper detailed records should be kept of all individual
contacts; reference to these records would tell the extension worker, or his
successors, all that they need to know about a particular fisherman, his way of
life, his methods and problems, what has already been done to help him and the
results. It is vitally important that any promises made during these contacts
are kept. If an extension worker promises to send written advice, to make a
contact on someone else's behalf or obtain advice for him, he must carry out his
promise. Every extension worker should keep a detailed daily diary in which he
records all contacts and promises made besides his other activities. The diary
is an official document and should be kept in such a form that it will be
useful, and available, to his superiors and his successors.
Chambers (1974) suggests that agricultural extension workers
should issue notebooks to the farmers in their district in which they record
notes of their visits. This has the two-fold advantage of enabling superiors to
check on the number of visits made to individual farmers and of providing a form
in which any advice given can be left with the farmer. As far as is known, no
fisheries extension service has ever done this but there are obviously some
situations in which it might be useful. It might not be necessary to issue
notebooks to individuals: these might be left with village headmen and then
serve just as useful a purpose as if issued to individuals.
Group methods generally require even more careful planning than
individual contacts. They may include meetings on a village or larger scale,
demonstrations of methods or results, visits to other villages or fish landings
and participation in shows. Group meetings are particularly useful in developing
countries. They should be treated as opportunities for discussion rather than as
lectures; the people, more particularly the leaders, should be fully involved
and encouraged to take active roles.
Fishermen are accustomed to learning by 'method demonstrations'
since this is the way in which fathers teach their sons to fish. Subjects which
would best be taught in this way include net making and hanging, net repair, new
methods or variations in old methods of handling, processing and preservation
(such as salting, smoking, drying and icing fish), manufacture of fish boxes and
smoking kilns - all the usual practical skills.
'Result demonstrations' differ only in that they go a step
further and show what happens as a result of varying or carrying out a
particular process, for instance: that by hanging a net to the correct length
you catch more fish; that properly iced fish keep longer than poorly iced fish;
that well made smoked fish look and taste better and keep longer than poorly
made smoked fish: that by doing it the new way, you can show a bigger profit for
your labours. The essence is to compare two or more procedures.
Visits should be made when some parts of the country are
carrying out advanced techniques which are not used in other parts. They are
then especially useful as the visitors can imagine for themselves what
conditions were like before the changes were made, and can see the advantages of
making the changes. It would obviously be very difficult to reach all members of
the fishing communities; when new laws are enacted, fish prices changed or new
methods prove outstandingly successful, then the mass media and other mass
methods should be used. Newspapers, magazines and television cannot be used to
reach all developing country fishermen; methods which can be used include radio
(fishermen often sit mending their nets beside transistor radios), posters and
handouts. Such material should be prepared for the extension service as a whole
rather than by the individual extension worker.
As with any other educational programme, in an extension service
programme it is necessary to check the progress being made and to evaluate
results. This is more difficult with extension programmes than with any others
because the students and teachers meet at undefined times in a variety of
different places. Nonetheless an attempt must be made, otherwise no one will
know whether the service is succeeding in its objectives or not. In most
countries it would be difficult, if not impossible, to attempt to use even
moderately sophisticated methods of evaluation such as systematic formal
enquiries by teams of trained research workers; much simpler methods are needed,
particularly when dealing with illiterate or semi-literate people.
Effective checks on progress are made by requiring extension
workers to submit regular reports in which they detail what they have done,
where they have been and what they think the results have been, not only for the
current period of work but also of work done in the past. Such reports are best
presented verbally with accompanying notes at a regular meeting with the
individual extension worker's immediate superiors. Every extension worker should
of course have a clear planned programme showing exactly what he is going to do
during the year and, in particular, what points he is trying to convey to
fishermen or their families. This gives the individual workers confidence and
makes it easier to check on the effectiveness of their programme. The extension
programme is really aiming to change the attitudes of people in the fishing
villages; even in the best circumstances, it is difficult to make anything other
than a purely subjective evaluation of this.
Liaison between government departments and with other bodies
Advice about the technologies involved in fishing and fish
handling will almost invariably be available within the fisheries department.
However, not all fisheries departments are able to advise on matters such as
boat construction and, in most countries, there are specialised departments
which deal with the marketing of agricultural and fisheries products and with
the formation and operation of cooperative societies. Many of the projects with
which an extension worker will be involved require that capital is provided from
outside the immediate area in which he is working, often by the national
government. Sometimes the running costs for some of his projects will be
provided in the same way. Often fishermen or their families need advice on the
care of their animals, the growing of their crops, fruit, coconut trees, or
vegetables. Where major public works such as roads or bridges are required, then
the public works department or its equivalent will be involved. In medical
matters, workers at the Ministry of Health will be involved.
Clearly the people needed, some of them fairly senior in
government service, will not 'come-a-running' when the extension worker, who is
comparatively junior, whistles. Indeed, officers of other departments often show
a marked reluctance to appear in fishing villages at all. When they do appear,
their visit is often so brief that the dust raised by their arrival still hangs
in the air as they make their departure. It is necessary to evolve a method of
working which will ensure that the fisheries extension worker is able to obtain
the advice and assistance he needs from other departments and to integrate the
efforts being made by the various government departments to develop a particular
area.
Management of rural development
In recent years, a variety of different methods of providing for
the integration of development have been tried in different parts of the world.
Chambers (1974) provides a very valuable review of the management of rural
development based on ideas and experience obtained in East Africa. The
methodology recommended by Chambers is based on what he calls the programming
and implementation management (PIM) system which was developed in Kenya from
1971 onwards. According to Chambers the PIM system has three main components:
Anyone concerned with rural development would find Chambers
exposition of great value. In some situations, it is possible to hold regular
meetings attended by all departments involved in rural development. However, the
group meeting must be small or it degenerates from a 'workshop' to a 'talk
shop'.
A somewhat similar system was evolved in Malaysia in the 1950s
and 1960s, which suggests that a system of this kind can be made to work under
widely differing conditions. Like everyone else who has been involved in the
development process, Chambers is insistent that the people who are being helped
should be intimately involved at every stage of the process and that their
thoughts and ideas should be incorporated in any programme which is developed.
Development must come from the bottom up not from the top down.
In Europe and North America, the people who carry out extension
work in the field are often university graduates. Such people are seldom broadly
trained generalists; most usually they are specialists and, in some cases, so
highly specialised that they may be responsible, for example, for quality
control aspects of fish processing rather than working in fish handling
generally. These people could, of course, be very useful in the development of
an artisanal fishery; unfortunately, they are far too expensive to be employed
in these situations. In the developing world, the fisheries extension worker
should be a well-trained generalist technician who has a good understanding of a
number of different technologies including boat-building and maintenance,
fishing gear maintenance and fish handling, processing and marketing, among
other subjects. In most territories which were formerly under British control,
three levels of grading in the government service are recognised: the more
senior posts being filled by university graduates, the middle level posts by
diploma holders who have attended a three-year course of instruction following
secondary school and the more junior posts by certificate holders who have
attended a two-year course of instruction following secondary school. Cole and
Hall (1973) discuss job specifications and standards of proficiency in
considerable detail. The fisheries extension worker would normally be a
certificate holder, his immediate superior would have a diploma while the more
senior officers in a fisheries department are usually graduates.
Cole and Hail (1973) set out in their curriculum No. 39
'Fisheries Assistants' the training syllabus used for fisheries assistants in
Uganda. The course was designed for people who would be working in freshwater
fisheries and needs modification for people working in marine fisheries in other
parts of the world. In addition to the basic science, mathematics and technology
set out in this course, a student who is to work as a fisheries extension
officer needs training in the principles of adult education and mass
communication, and the management and operation of fisheries co-operative
societies. Cole (1975a) suggests a curriculum for use in Nigeria for training
extension workers during a two-year certificate course; unlike the Uganda
course, this one is not yet in operation.
Any course of this type needs to include subjects such as basic
sciences and mathematics, statistics, fisheries co-operative societies,
principles of adult education and mass communication, ecology, fisheries biology
and aquatic sciences, handling, preservation, processing and marketing,
fisheries management, fish culture, fishing gear technology, navigation and
seamanship. It is also very important that students should be taught to write
clearly and concisely; they should be given plenty of practice in this and in
taking part in and controlling meetings, delivering lectures and carrying out
demonstrations. In general, the aim should be to arrange the course so that at
least half the student's time is spent in practical work.
In some countries, students are selected for a three-year
diploma course rather than for a two-year certificate course at the time they
leave school. Since this frequently results in the training of people who then
prove unsuitable for the type of work they are expected to do, it seems to be
much more sensible to arrange that new recruits to the fisheries department work
for at least several months in the field before they undergo any training at
all. They should then attend a two-year certificate course before returning to
the field; only those who have passed the two-year course satisfactorily and
have then proved themselves useful in the field should be selected for a third
year of training leading to a diploma and, in most cases, to immediate
promotion. No one should fill, or attempt to fill, a supervisory role in a
fisheries extension service unless he has himself worked at the most basic field
level.
BRADFIELD, D. J. (1966). Guide to extension training. Rome: Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 169 pp.
CHAMBERS, R. (1974).Managingrura/development. Uppsala:
Scandinavian Institute of Management Studies, 216 pp.
COLE, R. C. (1973). Report on fisheries development and
requirements of fishery education end training in Malaysia, Thailand, Fiji and
the Philippines. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
COLE, R. C. (1975). Fisheries education and training in Zambia.
Fl: DPZAM/73/009/1, Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations.
COLE, R. C. (1975a). Report of the FAO Mission to Nigeria to
determine the needs for training in in/and fisheries and wild life management.
Part 1. Inland fisheries. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations.
COLE, R. C. and HALL, D. N. F. (1973). Guide to fishery
education and training. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations.
JAMES, D. (1977). Fish processing and marketing in the tropics:
restrictions to development. In: Proceedings of the Conference on Handling,
Processing and Marketing of Tropical fish, pp. 447 - 454. London: Tropical
Products Institute, 511 pp.
LAWSON, R. M. (1972). Report on credit for artisanal fishermen
in South East Asia Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations.
MAUNDER, A. H. (1972). Agricultural extension: a reference
manual. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 336 pp.
YASEUDA, T. (1972). Fisheries extension service. FIE:
FET/73/BP3. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations.
