New maritime boundary yet to bring fishing benefits

Despite being awarded an additional 19,467 square kilometres of maritime area in 2014, Bangladesh is far behind in utilising the full potential of its marine resources due to a lack of investment and the absence of modern fishing vessels.

Although fish production has increased slightly over the years, experts say Bangladesh currently uses roughly seven per cent of its entire maritime area when it comes to fishing at sea.

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 all kinds of animal and non-animal resources under the continental shelf.

With the additional maritime area, Bangladesh found a maximum depth of 2,200 metres at the edge of its maritime boundary. However, traditional oceanic industrial fishing trawlers in the country can reach a maximum depth of only 130 meters.

Talking to The Business Post, Bangladesh Marine Fisheries Association (BMFA), the trade body representing fish and shrimp harvesting companies in the Bay of Bengal, said lack of surveying and available data on marine resources have been limiting the capacity of the country’s deep-sea fishing sector.

‘‘There is no data on fishing capacity or risk assessment areas in the deep sea, and that is why fishing vessels do not cross the government predefined 1,7000 sqkm area or 130 metres in depth,” said BMFA President Nurul Qayyum Khan.

“If we have no data from the government regarding marine resources present at deep sea, then why we will make more investments in procuring bigger or modern vessels?’’ he questioned.

“All fishing vessels sit idle at the docks for almost 90 days as the government imposes bans on fishing to help preserve the fish stock and boost breeding activities. It’s a great opportunity for us that Bangladesh has acquired more maritime area, now it is for the government to decide in which areas we can fish,” BMFA General Secretary Moshiur Rahman Chowdhury told The Business Post.

Similarly, fishing vessel owners blamed the failure of authorities concerned in conducting ground fishing capacity surveys at deep-sea for not being able to use the vast resource to its maximum.

“Even the ocean survey ship of the fisheries ministry cannot reach the deep sea due to its limited distance capacity. That’s why marine fish production has increased slightly despite the vast opportunity,” a fishing vessel owner said.

Marine fish experts say Bangladeshi industrial fisheries trawler 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.

According to the Department of Fisheries, in FY2019-20, marine fish production was 6,89,105 metric tonnes; 6,59,911MT in FY2018-19; 6,54,687MT in FY2017-18; 6,37,476MT in FY2016-17; 6,26,528MT in FY2015-16; 5,99,846MT in FY2014-15; 5,95,385MT in FY2013-14; and 5,88,988MT in FY2012-13.

On the other hand, Bangladesh has already established itself as one of the top freshwater fish producers in the world.

However, the slow growth in marine fish production comes when the government has emphasised achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) by creating a blue economy.

Bangladesh has 267 industrial boats that can monitor fish reserves digitally with a maximum netting range of five kilometres.

Besides, 5,000 artisanal fishing boats (small and medium wooden boats) are licensed under the Department of Fisheries in Bangladesh, along with 68,000 mechanised and non-mechanised marine boats with a maximum range of 10-15 metre depth.

Md Sharif Uddin, chief scientific officer of Marine Fisheries Survey Management Unit of the Department of Fisheries, said, “Our industrial trawlers are not capable of entering the deep sea, but Thai and Indonesian vessels are catching fish, including tuna, across their entire maritime area without any baseline survey. They mainly depend on experienced sailors and fishing crew for this.”

The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock already issued licences for 17 oceanic vessels for catching tuna and pelagic fishes beyond the 200-metre depth in the Bay of Bengal.

However, none of the companies had bought a single vessel using the licences as they are waiting for the government to conduct a deep-sea survey.

‘‘These licences were given to boat owners on a condition that they cannot catch fish within 40 metres depth. However, as these fishing boats get sufficient fish near the coast, they are less interested in buying modern boats using the permits,” Rear Admiral (retd) Md Khurshed Alam, secretary at the Maritime Affairs Unit of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told The Business Post.

He also mentioned that as large modern ships have the latest technologies to detect fish shoals, they do not need additional surveys to venture into the deep sea. “This is just an excuse for them,” he added.

Rownak Mahmud, secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, said the fisheries department had taken a pilot project to buy a modern vessel to catch tuna to motivate private fisheries companies to venture further into the deep sea.

Bay of Bengal filled with marine riches

Experts say Bangladesh’s warm climate, abundant annual rainfall and nutrients from the land enable a rich and highly productive environment in its maritime area in the Bay of Bengal.

Bangladesh ocean territory has a high stock of hilsa, shrimp, prawn, sardine, bombay duck, Indian salmon, foli chanda, jewfish, sea catfish, sharks, and other marine invertebrates such as squids.

Shrimps are mainly exported to Japan, while eel and squid go to China. An estimated 2,70,000 households are directly or indirectly dependent on the marine fishery.

Dr Roksana Jahan, assistant professor and chairman of the Department of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, said, “Bangladesh has established itself as one of the top freshwater fish producers in the world. We are now waiting for the same for marine fishing. To achieve this, both the government and the private sector need to work together.”

Prices of fishing boats

Industry insiders say an industrial steel-body fridgeder fishing trawler made by Denmark is one of the world’s best but is very costly.

Bangladeshi fishers use vessels made in Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea.

Thailand-made industrial fishing trawler costs around Tk 25-30 crore, Taiwan-made Tk 35-38 crore, Korean-made Tk 35-40 crore.

Western marine shipyard company of Bangladesh also builds industrial fishing trawlers, which can carry 300-500 tonnes of fish and produces ice on the boat, fishes are kept cool at minus 18 degrees Celsius. It usually stays in the sea for around one month with 45-50 crews.

The wooden boat used for sea fishing costs between Tk 20 lakh and Tk 1.5 crore, which can carry 50-80 tonnes, and stay at sea for at least 15 days while carrying ice from factories.