BRAC Fisheries was initiated in 1976 as a post-war rehabilitation effort for women living in poverty in the Sunamganj area. These areas were surrounded by water bodies that had not been put to productive use. BRAC provided boats and fishing nets to local people so they could generate income through fishing. Initially, training and technical support were provided to the people interested in cultivating fish. The social mission back then was to provide these previously unemployed people with work that would lead to financial solvency for them. However, BRAC staff soon realised that there was a lack of quality fish spawn in the market as it was difficult to collect the product from the government or external sources. To meet the demand, BRAC initiated its own fish hatchery, which then evolved into an enterprise in 2008, with a new social goal – making quality fish spawn easily available to the fish farmers of Bangladesh.