Government bars fishing in Bay of Bengal for 65 days for breeding and conservation

The decision has been taken for the first time to ensure breeding and conservation of fish in Bangladesh’s economic zones in the sea, says Fisheries and Livestock Minister Mohammed Sayedul Haque.

He told a media briefing on Tuesday that the prohibition will continue until July 23.

“This time sea fishing and collection of shrimps with trawlers will remain banned for the 65 days for breeding and conservation purposes,” he said.

“Mechanised and non-mechanised boats of the coastal areas will also be barred in future,” Haque added.

Bangladesh, after the resolution of disputes with India and Myanmar, established sovereign rights on more than 118,813 square kilometres area of territorial sea and 200 nautical miles (NM) of exclusive economic zone.

Bangladesh also won the rights on all forms of living and non-living resources under the continental shelf up to 354 NM from the Chittagong coast.

Currently, 32,440 sq kms, starting from the coastline to 40 metres depth, in the Bay are open to around 68,000 unlicensed trawlers and boats, both mechanical and non-mechanical, for fishing.

The commercial fishing trawlers licensed by the government are not allowed inside that region.

The government has two maritime areas set up for the licensed trawlers.

The second region starts from 41 metres depth to 200 metres and the third from 201 metres to the border of the country’s exclusive economic zone.

There are only 241 trawlers that are allowed by the government for fishing in those regions, said Minister Sayedul Haque.

Maritime experts have been warning that Bangladesh’s marine fish will be threatened in future with uncontrolled use of modern technologies and trawlers.

In 2007-08 fiscal, 497,000 metric tonnes of fish were caught from the Bay of Bengal. That number rose to 589,000 metric tonnes in 2012-13 fiscal year.

The fisheries and livestock minister on Tuesday said evaluation of data from the last five years showed that number of fish was gradually declining between June and August every year.

“We hope to increase that number by conserving at least 10 or 20 percent through the 65-day ban. A circular to this end will be issued in a couple of days,” he said.

The decision to bar fishing was taken after exhaustive discussions with related organisations, marine institutions and government officials, the minster added.

Asked whether fishermen would be given any aid because of the ban, Haque said, “This decision won’t create any problems for them as they usually don’t go fishing due to stormy weather during June-August.”