Seizing the potential of Blue Economy

The land-locked countries, having no access to sea or ocean through their borders, do clearly know the pains of its absence. Against this backdrop, the Bay of Bengal could be justifiably billed as one of the greatest gifts of nature to Bangladesh. Two ports at Chittagong and Mongla now serve as conduits for the country's export and import merchandise. Even the economy of Bangladesh is totally sea-borne. With about $130 billion-size gross domestic product (GDP) in value terms, the country's economy ranks at the 44th position in the world. The land-locked countries in South Asia have now expressed their interest to use the two sea-ports of Bangladesh.
Thanks to the government's initiative, a two-day international workshop on The Blue Economy was organised in Dhaka this week. The ministry of foreign affairs (MoFA) sponsored the workshop attended by more than 30 leading experts on oceanography from 20 countries. The experts during their deliberations exchanged their views on the potential and prospects of the Blue Economy offered by the Bay of Bengal. The initiative has not only been timely but it also reflects the government's forward movement in tapping the vast Bay resources. This has been facilitated by clear-cut maritime boundary demarcation with India and Myanmar by international adjudication. The courts have established the country's absolute rights over more than 118,813 square kilometres of waters in the Bay of Bengal. A vast territorial sea and exclusive economic zone extending out to 200 nautical miles (NM) has been awarded to Bangladesh.
In fact, the Bay of Bengal has led to various economic activities including efforts for poverty alleviation, achieving self-sufficiency in food production, maintaining environmental balance and facing adverse impact of climate change. Alongside the existing land-based development activities, the marine-based economic activities and management of sea and its resources through the Blue Economy may be considered a new horizon for development of a country like Bangladesh. As the Prime Minister noted in her inaugural speech, the Bay of Bengal could be used as the determinant of the country's future development and economic growth through expansion of international trade, use of marine mineral resources for long-term energy security, proper management of marine fish resources and protection of biodiversity and marine environment. About 1.4 billion people live along the Bay of Bengal coastline.
But the crude reality is that the country lacks skilled manpower to ascertain the availability of, and explore, the resources of the Bay. Besides, there is also lack of proper technology for exploiting deep-sea fishes and seabed resources. The two-day workshop has surely enlightened the country's policy-planners on do's and don'ts about developing a well-thought-out policy for management and exploration of the Bay resources. The government has already taken steps to impart higher education in Oceanography at Dhaka University and Chittagong University to create skilled manpower on marine sciences. The first National Oceanographic Research Institute is being established at Ramu, Cox's Bazar to create a marine scientific community for research. The country will do well in this arduous task by taking necessary assistance from industrialised countries for use of modern technologies in this regard. The response of the experts to the Dhaka workshop implies that they are ready to help the country in exploiting the Bay resources on a sustainable and scientific basis. Follow-up actions do now need to be expedited for tapping properly the potential of such resources.