USAID_Enhanced Coastal Fisheries in Bangladesh phase 2 (EcoFish II)_Quarterly Report_January 1, 2021 – March 31, 2021

USAID’s ECOFISH II enhances community resilience through improving the savings, livelihoods and coping strategies of host fishing communities in the USAID Zone of Resilience (ZOR) and marginalized and extremely poor fisher folks in the MRE and the Nijhum Dwip MPA. This 1st quarterly progress report of Year 2 describes the accomplishments and achievements of ECOFISH II from January to March 2021 in all the ToOs. Activities in ZOR were implemented with the key partnerships of Shushilan, Chattogram Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU), and Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST). In addition, Falcon International Ltd has been working closely with the project to develop and expand seaweed, green mussel farming and creating market linkages for fishers’ livelihood improvement. In the MRE, Noakhali Science and Technology University (NSTU), Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU) and Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU) are associated with the project implementation. In the Nijhum Dwip MPA, IUCN has been working along with the project teams. Activities on ecosystem health management, coastal biodiversity conservation and monitoring of coastal fisheries dynamics, targeted under the first sub-IR1 (Improved science outputs for decision-making), have been continued with satisfactory progress despite some hurdles from the pandemic. Five universities (BSMRAU, CVASU, NSTU, SAU and SUST) have played important roles in achieving the science outputs. In this quarter, BSMRAU conducted spatio-temporal analysis of water quality and the water quality identification index for the MPA and the Meghna river estuary through monitoring 12 water quality parameters at seven monitoring sites. To improve ecosystem health, collection of plastic and net materials from the Cox’s Bazar and Kuakata sea beaches were continued and about 300 kg of such materials were removed from the beaches. In partnership with CVASU, fish biodiversity through