The resolution of longstanding maritime boundary disputes with two immediate neighbours -- Myanmar and India -- in March 2012 and July 2014 respectively has come as a blessing for a resource-starved country like Bangladesh. In fact, not many people, even until now, can make a proper assessment of the immense benefits that the country would be able to reap from it. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea awarded vast areas to Bangladesh from the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Bay of Bengal through separate verdicts.
However, the benefits from the vast swath of sea that is rich in hydrocarbon, minerals and other marine products, particularly fish, would not come automatically. The government will have to make appropriate plans and programmes, formulate policies and implement the same with all seriousness. Unfortunately, the policymakers tend to falter in designing the right kind of plans and implementing those even in areas that are traditional and well-known to them. But they are not that much familiar with the issues concerning management and exploitation of marine resources. Nor is there a possibility of getting necessary manpower for this particular area immediately.
This is because successive governments did not foresee the need for building manpower having enough knowledge in different aspects of marine resources' management and research. However, this failure is not much unlike the case with the overall performance of the government as far as production of skilled manpower for domestic industries as well as for foreign job markets is concerned. The indifference, deliberate or otherwise, to create skilled manpower, thus, has been taking a heavy toll on the national economy.
Undeniably, the country right at this moment needs a comprehensive strategy that delineates clearly what the government would be doing, from now on, to benefit itself from huge marine resources in the Bay through proper management and research activities. For the time being, the hiring of a few foreign experts might be necessary. But such dependence cannot go for a long period. The country will have to create its own manpower in both marine resource management and research activities. However, unless opportunities are created and right kind of incentives given to attract substantial investment in the exploitation of sea resources, the move to create a substantial number of skilled people might backfire.
In this context, the adoption of a law, Ocean Research Institute (ORI) Act that provides for the establishment of an institute for conducting research on subjects involving different branches of oceanography and climate change by national parliament Sunday last is an appropriate action. But passage of a law does not necessarily mean that things would move at a fast pace, particularly when it requires acquisition of land, construction of physical structures and recruitment of manpower. Given the importance of ocean-related research activities under the changed circumstances, the government will need to push things at a fast pace for getting the ORI in place at the earliest.
Creating an ocean research institute
FE Team | Published: March 04, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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