[Coral-List] Fishing with bed nets survey

[Gurung, Rajina]

Dear Coral list,

I am conducting a survey of malaria bed net use for fishing in different parts of the world in partnership with the Zoological Society of London and Imperial College London and was hoping fellow coral-listers could spare some time to fill in the short survey (if appropriate) and circulate it to networks?

https://qtrial2015az1.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_067tFHvwSc3l47b

Target audience is anyone who has travelled/worked/lived in a malaria risk zone where small scale/artisanal fishing is practiced and I am looking for people to confirm or deny that they have seen fishing with bed nets. This study will give the first global perspective of the prevalence and characteristics of this type of fishing, which is concerning conservationists because of the very small mesh size of the nets, the perceived rapidly increasing prevalence of use of these nets, and the potential for the insecticide treated nets causing environmental pollution.

Any information provided will lend a global context to this poorly understood and documented issue. If anyone has seen the practice up close or would like to discuss further please don't hesitate to get in touch. More info below.

Many thanks,
Rajina

Conservation Science MSc student
Imperial College London
Skype: rajinagurung321
Follow me on twitter @rajinagurung

We are particularly interested in the degree to which bed nets distributed for malaria control are being used in fishing in different parts of the world. There are two groups of people who we are targeting this survey towards, anyone who has knowledge of small-scale and artisanal fishing, and anyone who is involved in malaria control efforts in fishing areas of developing countries. We would be very grateful if you could complete the survey if you belong to one of these two groups regardless of whether you have observed bed nets being used in fishing because we are interested in both positive and negative observations of net use.

As part of the World Health Organisation Roll Back Malaria programme, substantial efforts have been put in place to distribute insecticide-treated bed nets and long-lasting insecticide treated bed nets to poor communities to combat malaria. There have been a number of reports of bed nets being used for fishing, but these have been anecdotal or local. In this study we are hoping to get a global perspective on the use of insecticide-treated bed nets or long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets for fishing. This will increase understanding of the scale and methods of fishing with bed nets and its role in people’s livelihoods.

This questionnaire is part of an MSc research project by Rajina Gurung, from Imperial College London, in partnership with Zoological Society of London.. The information you provide will provide a valuable insight into this extremely poorly understood and documented issue. Your responses are anonymous and confidential, and general trends will be reported rather than specifics. We will be careful to ensure that our research does not harm local people in the areas of study, and that we maintain the highest ethical standards..