Govt set to take up pilot project for marine resources exploration

The government is set to take up a pilot project for exploration of marine resources in the Bay of Bengal, an official said.

Under the project in line with directives from the Prime Minister's Office, the fishermen, who are engaged in catching fishes in the sea, will be provided with financial assistance and other logistic supports.

"We have started working on the project," a high official at the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MoFL) told the FE.

It is estimated that huge fishes of different varieties are being netted from the Bay every year. But the local fishermen in the coastal areas catch only an insignificant portion of the fishes for lack of logistical supports.

Around 1.0 million families are fully dependent on the sector, including over 0.7 million families directly involved with catching fishes using only around 75,000 wooden boats and around 5,000 trawlers at present.

Through this project, the official said, the fishermen would be motivated to catch only the big-sized fishes instead of the small ones.

The fishermen will get financial supports from the government in the form of cooperatives.

The settlement of the maritime boundary disputes with India and Myanmar has created a huge opportunity for Bangladesh to explore marine resources in the extended areas.

The government has already deployed RV Meen Sandhani, which was brought from Malaysia, to conduct a survey on marine resources in the Bay of Bengal.

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