Fishermen likely to get insurance coverage
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Syful Islam
A move is underway to bring families of over 0.2 million fishermen of the country under insurance coverage; a regional organisation has expressed concern over their safety and living conditions, officials said Monday. Inter-governmental organisation, the Bay of Bengal Programme (BoBP), in its meeting held in Colombo last December expressed concern at the absence of necessary government initiative to ensure safety of the fishermen while fishing in inclement weather conditions and easing their plight during the lean periods of fishing. Every year a good number of fishermen die in boat capsize while fishing in stormy weather conditions. Especially, fishermen and their family members are victims of cyclones as they live in coastal areas. "When a fisherman dies, his family members become helpless. They have to struggle very hard to earn livelihood," Shamsul Kibria, joint secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock told the FE. "We want to bring the fishermen and their family members under insurance coverage. Most of the fishermen in other countries enjoy the insurance facilities," he added. The Islamic Develop-ment Bank (IDB) and the government will jointly sponsor the fund for the insurance coverage of the fishermen. Fishermen will have to pay a monthly nominal premium to avail themselves of the facility, a source said. The IDB through a project has granted a soft loan of Tk 0.96 billion to insure the fishermen and purchase a survey ship at a cost of Tk 0.51 billion to conduct survey in the Bay of Bengal to ascertain fish population in the Bay. The BoBP will provide fund to appoint consultants to complete the ground works for insuring the fishermen and their family members. Sources said the government is also in discussion with the World Bank to fund the insurance coverage from its livelihood project. State-owned Jiban Bima Corporation will provide the insurance service. Local fishermen each year catch nearly 0.5 million tonnes of fish from the sea. They use 174 trawlers and about 68,000 mechanised and non-mechanised fishing boats. Livelihood of over 0.2 million families depends on fishing activities. The mechanised and non-mechanised boats catch 93 per cent of the total fishes from the mid and surface water of the sea. Trawlers catch the rest seven per cent.
A move is underway to bring families of over 0.2 million fishermen of the country under insurance coverage; a regional organisation has expressed concern over their safety and living conditions, officials said Monday. Inter-governmental organisation, the Bay of Bengal Programme (BoBP), in its meeting held in Colombo last December expressed concern at the absence of necessary government initiative to ensure safety of the fishermen while fishing in inclement weather conditions and easing their plight during the lean periods of fishing. Every year a good number of fishermen die in boat capsize while fishing in stormy weather conditions. Especially, fishermen and their family members are victims of cyclones as they live in coastal areas. "When a fisherman dies, his family members become helpless. They have to struggle very hard to earn livelihood," Shamsul Kibria, joint secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock told the FE. "We want to bring the fishermen and their family members under insurance coverage. Most of the fishermen in other countries enjoy the insurance facilities," he added. The Islamic Develop-ment Bank (IDB) and the government will jointly sponsor the fund for the insurance coverage of the fishermen. Fishermen will have to pay a monthly nominal premium to avail themselves of the facility, a source said. The IDB through a project has granted a soft loan of Tk 0.96 billion to insure the fishermen and purchase a survey ship at a cost of Tk 0.51 billion to conduct survey in the Bay of Bengal to ascertain fish population in the Bay. The BoBP will provide fund to appoint consultants to complete the ground works for insuring the fishermen and their family members. Sources said the government is also in discussion with the World Bank to fund the insurance coverage from its livelihood project. State-owned Jiban Bima Corporation will provide the insurance service. Local fishermen each year catch nearly 0.5 million tonnes of fish from the sea. They use 174 trawlers and about 68,000 mechanised and non-mechanised fishing boats. Livelihood of over 0.2 million families depends on fishing activities. The mechanised and non-mechanised boats catch 93 per cent of the total fishes from the mid and surface water of the sea. Trawlers catch the rest seven per cent.