\\\'Time to create right bodies and take up proper plan of actions\\\'

Maritime experts have suggested the government create appropriate organisations and take up necessary plan of actions to protect, conserve and commercially exploit its sea resources.
The size of the country's territorial waters is now almost equal to that of its total land area.
Bangladesh fishing boats caught nearly 590,000 metric tonnes of fish from the sea in the fiscal 2012-13. The catch may further go up if proper arrangements are put in place.    
Experts said there are at least 30 varieties of shrimps available in the sea. Besides, there are at least 15 types of craps; 300 kinds of molluscs; 55 types of seaweeds and 13 varieties of corals. All these have substantial commercial value. Moreover there are enormous fish stocks, besides the presence of hydrocarbon waiting for exploration.  
"Bay is the silver mine of Bangladesh," said Prof. Shahadat Hossain, Director of Institute of Marine Science and Fisheries at Chittagong University.
He told the FE on Saturday that with the ending of maritime disputes priority now should be given to the conservation and commercial exploitation of the sea resources.
Dr Shahadat said the Bay of Bengal has vast fish stocks and other sea resources. The country is fortunate to have such enormous sea resources when the sea around many other countries in Europe and Asia has already lost the fish stock due to intensive fishing. Even some species have become extinct.
"The situation in some places is rather catastrophic. Sea around Thailand is already empty of fish. Thailand is supplementing its loss of sea fish with cultured fish," Dr Shahadat said adding globally 50 percent demand for fish is now met by cultured fish as the supply of fresh water and sea fish has declined.      
He suggested the government set up a new maritime ministry or department to protect fish and other the sea resources and adopt plans to exploit the same keeping provisions for replenishment of the stocks.
 "We should not allow the sea to become empty," he said. He also suggested setting up of a floating platform at the outer edge of Bangladesh's territorial waters for use by its fishermen.
They may unload the catch from the mother vassals to feeder vassals and continue over longer time in the sea, he said.
He said since the strength of the Bangladesh Navy and the Bangladesh Coast Guard are not enough to patrol our territorial waters they much undergo changes befitting to the need.   
A former DG of the department of Fisheries even suggested the setting up of a separate organisation to beef up the vigilance over the Bangladesh marine resources, especially when intrusion of fishing boats from neighbouring countries has been rampant.  
Dr Shahadat said the government must start with a fresh survey of the sea resources before embarking on new plans including search for new hydrocarbon deposits.
He said surveys were earlier carried out on sea resources in 1980-81 and 1988-89.
But there should be fresh surveys to know the fish stock and other resources. He said procurement of a new survey ship is underway and a fresh survey may start from 2015.  
Md Shamsudduha, Chief Executive of the Centre for Participatory Research and Development, told the FE that handling sea resources was highly technical; it requires trained manpower and better logistics support.  
He said the government must give trawler licenses to genuine fisherman to exploit resources. It must also protect fish during breeding period and phase out catching time. Inland storage and marketing network of fish must also be strengthened.  
He was critical of the past governments' failure to set up a National Oceanographic Institute although the plan had started at least 10 years ago.   
He also fears that climate change and warming of the sea may leave adverse effect on fish sanctuaries, which, in turn, might affect their reproductive capacity. Such development must be under constant watch.  
Former Director General of the Department of Fisheries Mahbubur Rahman Khan felt that the country does not have enough capacity to catch fish below 40 meters while fish resources are available up to 200 meters and the issue must be taken care of now. He emphasized on the targeted research to help beef up the exploitation of fish resources keeping in mind the need for conserving the fish stock.