Review of the Development of Microfinance Services for Coastal Small Scale Fisheries and Aquaculture for South Asia Countries (Including India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka) with Special Attention to Women

This paper reviews the status of coastal small scale fisheries sectors in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, with a special focus on women.

Small scale workers in the fisheries sector cannot access formal institutional credit except through intermediary people's organizations like South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS), state cooperatives, NGOs, MFIs and self help groups (SHGs). The review states that:

• Fisher folk rely on informal sources for life cycle needs, housing, education and emergencies, and even for production purposes;
• Grameen Bank in Bangladesh offers various microfinance products and services;
• Banks are unwilling to cater to the credit needs of fish workers because they do not have collateral;
• Fisher folks pay high interest charges due to reliance on the informal credit system;
• Fisher folk have no insurance or social security to fall back upon;
• Credit plus services are almost nonexistent.

The paper suggests that the SIFFS' integrated microfinance model incorporating technology development and dissemination, support services for production and repair of marine fishing units, information services and policy and advocacy could be replicated.