Mahmudul Islam

I would like to thank GLOMAR for providing me an opportunity for a research stay at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Canada. Memorial University is the largest university in Atlantic Canada. Being situated in Newfoundland, the university has historical strength and focus in fisheries research. During my stay I worked with Dr. Ratana Chuenpagdee at International Coastal Network research group of Department of Geography. Currently Dr. Chuenpagdee is Canada Research Chair in Natural Resource Sustainability and Community Development and she has particular interest in Asia Pacific region also about Bangladesh. Spending two and half months at Memorial rewarded me with important research experience which is pertinent to my Ph D research work. My colleagues at International Coastal Network are very enthusiastic in thought-provoking discussion on different issues of fisheries management, which helped me to clarify different concepts related to my research.

One of the main reasons to visit Memorial University was to produce a co-authored article with Dr. Chuenpagdee on risk-poverty nexus in perspective of small-scale fisheries of Bangladesh. We prepared the draft of the article with working title “Negotiating risk and poverty in shock-ridden fishing communities in Bangladesh” and now the article is in the process of revision and correction after receiving comments from colleagues. I also got scope to present the above mentioned article in a mini-symposium titled “Coastal Connections: Fisheries, Tourism and Sustainability” which was arranged by International Coastal Network, on March 11, 2011. Questions and critical comments from participants in the symposium helped me to improve the content of the article. Moreover, in 2011 Department of Geography is celebrating its 50th anniversary by arranging monthly seminar; I took part in three of them. I also met some other experts and colleagues at Memorial University to discuss my research topics with them and to get valuable feedback. This research stay also helped me to establish an academic relation with Memorial University in longer perspective. For this research residence in Canada, full financial support from GLOMAR is gratefully acknowledged.