Citation: Talukdar, A.; Schneider, P.; Begum, A.; Kawsar, M.A.; Sultana, M.A.; Sumon, T.A.; Nabi, M.R.-U.-; Mozumder, M.M.H.; Shamsuzzaman, M.M. The Premium of Hilsa Sanctuary: A Socio-Economic and Ecological Evaluation from the Meghna Estuary, Bangladesh. Sustainability 2022, 14, 7782. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su14137782 Academic Editor: Tim Gray Received: 16 May 2022 Accepted: 23 June 2022 Published: 26 June 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Article The Premium of Hilsa Sanctuary: A Socio-Economic and Ecological Evaluation from the Meghna Estuary, Bangladesh Anuradha Talukdar 1,† , Petra Schneider 2 , Amany Begum 1 , Md. Abu Kawsar 3 , Mst. Armina Sultana 4 , Tofael Ahmed Sumon 5 , Md. Rashed-Un- Nabi 6 , Mohammad Mojibul Hoque Mozumder 7 and Md. Mostafa Shamsuzzaman 1, * ,† 1 Department of Coastal and Marine Fisheries, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh; anuradha.cmf@sau.ac.bd (A.T.); amanysau2364@gmail.com (A.B.) 2 Department for Water, Environment, Civil Engineering and Safety, University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal, Breitscheidstraße 2, D-39114 Magdeburg, Germany; petra.schneider@h2.de 3 Department of Aquaculture, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh; kawsar.aq@sau.ac.bd 4 Department of Aquatic Resource Management, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh; armina.arm@sau.ac.bd 5 Department of Fish Health Management, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh; tofael.fhm@sau.ac.bd 6 Department of Fisheries, University of Chittagong, Chittagong 4331, Bangladesh; rashed.nabi@cu.ac.bd 7 Fisheries and Environmental Management Group, Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, 0014 Helsinki, Finland; mohammad.mozumder@helsinki.fi * Correspondence: shamsuzzamanmm.cmf@sau.ac.bd † These authors contributed equally to this work. Abstract: Sanctuaries are widely regarded as a protected area where fishing has been placed under some restrictions by local, state, regional and national authorities for the conservation and manage- ment of fisheries resources. These sanctuaries have a broad array of positive and negative social, economic, cultural and political impacts on fishers. This study aims to analyze the socio-economic and ecological benefits and costs of hilsa sanctuaries to protect single most important hilsa species using Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA). Under the Protection and Conservation of Fish Act of 1950, six sites along the Padma, Meghna, Tetulia, and Andharmanik rivers have been designated as hilsa sanctuaries. Findings of the current study revealed that most fishers perceived production of hilsa and other species were increased as a direct consequences of sanctuaries establishment. However, a considerable proportion of hilsa fishermen was found to have low socioeconomic capital, as measured by monthly income, housing circumstances and asset ownership. During the restricted fishing season in the sanctuaries, these households are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. The government’s compensation scheme is a good example of payment of ecosystem services in an open water fishery; however, this scheme does not include all the affected fishers. It is found that hilsa sanctuaries lead to income loss of the poor fishers which is insufficiently compensated by government support program. To compensate income loss, fishers resort illegal fishing which undermine the success of sanctuary. If the sanctuaries are to function effectively, affecting fishers must be addressed by offering enough compensation schemes so that fishers are able to support their families. Moreover, some fishers believed that a co-management approach involving fishers and government is the possible best management option for operating sanctuaries in a sustainable way. Keywords: marine protected area; Tenualosa ilisha; fishermen’ perception; fish sanctuary; impact of sanctuary 1. Introduction Fisheries contribute significantly to livelihoods, food safety, and wellbeing [1], sup- porting a total of 120 million people worldwide [2]. Nonetheless, despite their social and Sustainability 2022, 14, 7782. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137782 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability