Date: 2-8 March 2015
Venue: Rayong
Province, Thailand
Overall
course objectives
Participants will understand the concept and need
for an Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries
Management (EAFM) and acquire skills and knowledge to develop, implement and monitor an “EAFM plan” to better manage capture fisheries.
Management (EAFM) and acquire skills and knowledge to develop, implement and monitor an “EAFM plan” to better manage capture fisheries.
Result
The welcome address and closing note were made by Dr.
Chumnarn Pongsri, Secretary-General and Chief of the Training Department. Dr.
Yuttana Theparoonrat, Coastal and Small-scale Fisheries Management Division
Head/Information and Training Division Head, gave a speech on introduction of
the course. Dr. Jarin Sawanboonchun, Regional
EAFM Training Coordinator from Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Project,
gave a brief on the background of the EAFM course.
The course was delivered entirely by SEAFDEC trainers; 1) Mr. Isara
Chanrachkij, 2) Ms. Panitnard Taladol, 2) Ms. Saivason Klinsukhon, 3) Ms.
Jariya Sornkliang, 4) Ms. Rattana Tiaye, 5) Mr. Krit Phusirimongkol. At the end
of each day the trainers and coach had a feedback session and detailed planning
of the following day. There were total of 20 participants on this course: five each from
Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand.
The original 5.5 days program was extended to 7
complete days to incorporate a half day field visit to a local fishing village
on the morning of day 6. The standard course sequence and the activities was
followed in the session plans, only alternating slightly to ensure a good daily
spread of theory and practice. Days 1-7 ran as original plan (see timetable in
Appendix). However, there were some changes such as the lunch time. We expanded
the lunch time for 30 minutes for Muslim praying.
At the end of each training day, after detailed
feedback and discussions on the delivery; the trainers carefully planned the
subsequent day, confirming the already assigned allocation, and assigning
responsibilities for every planned activity, including the energizers.
As a response to requests for moving to bigger room, we
have some activities outside the room. For the food, we concerned more about
the Muslim food; therefore, we have more seafood, vegetable and fruit during
lunch and coffee break. In addition, we have a video and more case
studies/examples during the presentation. It is very important for the trainers
to look after the participants. We responded the participants’ requests as much
as we can.
The
field trip on day 6 was to Mae Rumphung beach, Ban Pay District, Rayong. At the
village, the participant had two and a half hours for face-to-face interview
with local fisherman including participatory discussions by using a tools;
Historical time lines, Venn’s diagram, Identify and Prioritize stakeholders
(HH, HL matrix), Identify and Prioritize threats and issues either (simple
ranking or HH, HL matrix), Problem tree analysis. Outcomes were that our
participants practised focus group discussions including facilitation and
observation; also historical time lines and HH, HL matrix were generated. Then,
we had a result of each group presentation at EMDEC. In the evening, some participants prepared their presentation in the
training’s room but the room can provided only till 7 pm.
The EAFM draft plan presentations went well; groups put a
lot of work into preparation. Indonesia chose “Fishery in Bali Straight”,
Malaysia chose “Coastal Area in Selangor”, Myanmar chose “Thaninthanyi Coastal
Area”, and Thailand chose “Phung-Nga Bay”.
As often happens during the presentation, groups found it difficult to
manage time properly 10 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes for question and
answer. So we systematically allowed for content-related questions and then
ensured we elicited and provided feedback on the actual draft plans.
SEAFDEC provided the participants USB that contained of all
presentation, material (Handbook, Workbook, Toolkit, and Action Plan Booklet),
picture and video during the training as well as bag, cap, shirt, and
certificate.
For the interactive course review, the concentric circles
individual feedback was used to know the course as a whole, and can draw out
key learning points. Moreover, we also used the pairwise ranking of key EAFM
messages activity. This activity worked very well and the messages that came
out from all groups reflected the key points we had covered during the course.
Initially the trainers had some apprehension and
nervous about whether the mix of very senior people, middle level and junior
officers would appreciate the participatory teaching methodology consisting of
many group activities and energisers, as these are different from other
training or lecture sessions many would be familiar with. However, the daily
monitoring and the final assessment clearly showed that there was a lot of
appreciation for the training methods, course design, and course trainer
including the administration.
