Home ›› 20 Aug 2021 ›› Editorial
Bangladesh currently uses roughly seven per cent of its entire maritime area for fishing despite the fact that the country was awarded an additional 19,467 square kilometres of maritime area in 2014. That means, Bangladesh remains far behind in utilising the full potential of its marine resources though the demand is increasing on a regular basis. Two problems have been identified in this regard: One, the lack of maritime resource survey and the absence of modern fishing vessels.
We may recall that in 2014 the International Tribunal for the Law of the Seas (ITLOS), in a verdict, gave Bangladesh the sovereign rights of a total of 1,18,813 sqkm territorial sea, 200 nautical miles (NM) of exclusive economic zone and of all kinds of animal and non-animal resources under the continental shelf. With the additional maritime area, Bangladesh gained a maximum depth of 2,200 metres at the edge of its maritime boundary.
This gain, however, should have been matched with acquiring modern fishing vessels and survey equipment to reap the full benefit. But, in reality, we have some outdated fishing trawlers that can reach a maximum depth of only 130 meters or 1,7000 sqkm. Bangladesh ocean territory has a rich reserve of hilsa, shrimp, prawn, sardine, bombay duck, Indian salmon, foli chanda, sea catfish, sharks, and other marine invertebrates such as squids. Most of these fish varieties enjoy good demand both at home and foreign markets.
Experts on the topic say that lack of proper survey equipment and non-availability of data on marine resources limit the capacity of the country’s deep-sea fishing sector. Owners of old vessels question why they should go for investment in procuring modern vessels if the government cannot provide them with updated data on marine resources.
It is disconcerting that because of the prevailing situation, fishing vessels remain docked for almost 90 days as there is government ban on fishing at certain times of the year to help boost breeding of different species of fish. As a result, fishermen cannot go to the newly gained maritime area to catch more fish and thus change their financial situation. On the other hand, fishing vessel owners question the authorities why they failed to conduct fishing capacity surveys at deep-sea. It is further discouraging to learn that the ocean survey ship of the ministry of fisheries allegedly cannot reach the deep sea because of its range capacity problem.
According to marine fish experts, Bangladeshi industrial fisheries trawlers currently can catch fishes in three areas of Bay of Bengal – swatch of no ground at Dublar Char of Bagerhat, middle ground at Barguna and South passages of Cox’s Bazar with an average of 300 metres in depth. The slow growth in marine fish production even after winning vast areas in 2014 will jeopardise the government’s much hyped ‘Blue Economy’ slogan, a component of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
While we raise the issue of incapability of our industrial trawlers to enter deep sea, reportedly, similar vessels in Indonesia and Thailand catch fish from their deep maritime areas depending on their experienced fishing crew.
It is heartening to learn that the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock has already issued licences for 17 oceanic vessels for catching tuna and pelagic fishes beyond the 200-metre depth in the Bay of Bengal. But, we learn, the companies will procure the sophisticated vessels only after the government conducts a deep-sea survey. However, none of the companies has bought a single vessel so far using the licences as they are waiting for the government to conduct a deep-sea survey.
There is no denying that fish is the prime source of protein for Bangladeshis hence utmost has to be done to ensure its availability. We therefore hope the obstacles on the way will be amicably removed by all stakeholders sitting across the table to take maritime fishing to a new height.
