Professor Dr. A.K.M. Aminul Haque
Former Vice-Chancellor, BAU
Mr. Chairman, Honourable Chief Guest, Distinguished Fisheries-Scientists, Ladies and Gentlemen.
The first-ever seminar held in Bangladesh after the liberation of the country was a Seminar on Agricultural Policy and Agricultural Education in Bangladesh. Held at the Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, in august 1972, the 4-day Seminar was inaugurated by the then Acting Prime Minister of the country, Syed Nazrul Islam, and participated in by over a hundred experts including two other Ministers and 18 foreign participants--the Indonesian Minister for Agriculture having contributed, in absentia, a full-length paper on the Agricultural policy in his country.
Policy first, then development
As the Convener of the Seminar mentioned above I could hardly manage time to prepare a full-length paper, and presented at the Seminar only a brief key-note paper outlining the objectives of the Seminar and underscoring the need for an agricultural policy. One thing I stressed in my brief paper was : "There must be
An agricultural policy to follow. That policy may as well be: “Sell all your ploughs and buy a factory ship”. It was not as much to emphasise the great importance of fisheries as to stress on the importance of first adopting a policy before all other developmental activities were undertaken. The message that was intended to be conveyed in those few words was that for an allround development of a new-born country called Bangladesh the very first pre-requisite was to adopt a policy after critically considering all development parameters, and then work out a strategy for implementation of that policy.
There can be several alternatve policies for attaining the goal of development. But once a certain policy has been adopted it is necessary to stick to that policy and to ensure its implementation. By way of example, I said then that the policy to be adopted for development of Bangladesh could as well be to develop fisheries, both inland and marine, in preference to other agricultural activities - ‘factory ship’ symbolizing the ultimate in the development of fisheries so as to elevate the same to the status of the mainstay of the economy of the country, and ‘selling of all ploughs’ signifying a status of crop production only secondary to fisheries. Incidentally, they do ‘carry coal to New Castle’ -- carry inferior quality coal to New Castle for local consumption and sell the superior quality coal for which New Castle is famous, for earning valuable foreign exchange. That is their policy in the United Kingdom. Our policy for development of Bangladesh can likewise be to develop fisheries -- and there are endless scopes for development of both inland and marine fisheires -- to can extent that it becomes possible to earn enough of foreign exchange to by all the foodstuff and other neccessities of life ofr the entire population of Bangladesh.
That statement in my key-note paper was made, albeit, to underscore the great importance of first adopting a “policy” for the country, and also indirectly to assert that fisheries, if development properly, can play a leading role in meeting the requirements of the country for food and foreign exchange.
Fisheries and common property concept
Mr. Chairman, the common property concept, the ‘common wealth’, is nowhere better illustrated than in fisheries. Starting with the family pond, the rivers and other inland waterbodies and the open sea -- all illustrate the concept of common property. While the exploitation of the resources of the sea within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the exclusive right of the maritime nation concerned, the exploitation of marine resources EEZ is for any nation including, of course, Bangladesh, that can develop the capability for the purpose. There is thus an enormous--and almost endless -- possibility for Bangladesh to develop her fisheries resources.
Basic considerations for a policy
On the question of sustainable development of marine fisheries resources of Bangladesh we have to ask ourselves the following questions:
What are the currently known marine fisheries resources of Bangladesh within her exclusive economic zone ?
What are the potential unexplored and unexploited marine fisheries resources of the country within the EEZ ?
What is the rate of renewal of the various fisheries resources?
What is the nature of population dynamics of different species of fisheries organisms ?
What are the purposes of our exploitation of marine fisheries resources ?
What is the quantum of demand for internal consumption ?
What is the quantum of demand for export market ?
Can Bangladesh go for exploitation of marine resources beyond her EEZ limit ?
to what extent ?
What should be the rate of exploitation to maintain the marine fisheries resources at sustainable level ?
Can we go for factory ship/mother ship so as to reduce commuting time and increase trawling time of trawlers ?
The considerations just mentioned refer mainly to natural supply of marine fisheries resources. The next questions to ask will be : can we augment the natural supply and can we reduce exploitation pressure so as to maintain the resources at sustainable level ? The one answer here is : Yes, we can. We can fix the highest limit to exploitation of the resources; and we can also replenish stock through mariculture and open sea stocking programmes. And we can supplement these efforts by putting a stop to wanton destruction of youngones of finfishes and shellfishes while collecting shrimp larvae in the coastal region.
Some other factors of serious implication
Just fixing a limit to exploitation and leaving engouth stock in the sea are not going to help us much, unless we can at the same time improve our post-harvest handling and ensure quality of our product for domestic and foreign markets. We have to take extra care to ensure proper handling, ensure fish hygiene, and prevent spoilage of all descriptions so that whatever quantity we harvest after all different considerations, does not get reduced in quality and effective quantity.
No joint-venture with foreign countries
In a discussion on exploiting the marine fisheries resources of Bangladesh the question of joint-venture may come up. In 1981, Marhoom President Ziaur Rahman, in his anxiety to see the marine resources of the country develop, arranged an Oceanographic Expedition to the Bay of Bengal with major emphasis on fisheries resources.
In my speech delivered at the Seminar held on board the vessel I drew the attention of the late President to the enormous possibilities of development of the marine resources and to the undesirability of the Thai-Bangladesh joint venture programme for fisheries development in the Bay of Bengal that was in operation at that time. My contention then was that there were many other areas, including agriculture, where regional co-operation would be welcome, but not in marine fisheries where possibilities of undesirable, anti-state and anti-social activities under the cover of joint-venture could not be ruled out. Undesirable activities in respect of fisheries would, in most cases, be detrimental to fisheries development frustrating all our efforts at sustainable development of the resources, and I strongly advocated the termination of the Thai-Bangladesh joint-venture programmes in operation then. It is gratifying to note that the Thai-Bangladesh joint-venture programme for fisheires under execution then in the Bay of Bengal was terminated soon after, much to the relief of the fisheries-scientists.
Any fresh move for joint-venture programmes with a foreign country for development/exploration/exploitation of marine fisheries should be discouraged.
Environmental degradation
Marine pollution has, in recent years, been gradually assuming alarming proportions. Besides oil-spills, there are ship-washings, ship-breaking industries, and discharge of toxic, and sometimes radioactive, wastes by foreign vessels. Both preventive and remedial measures are called for to tackle these problems.
The destruction of mangrove vegetation is bringing about progressive degradation of the breeding grounds of many of the commercially important species of marine fisheries organisms. This should be halted unless we are prepared to see the disappearance of some of the species from our waters.
Aquarium fishes
There are many species of tropical fishes particularly in our coral formations in the St. Martin's Islands and St. Martin's Reef off the mouth of the Naf river, which are in high demand abroad as tropical aquarium fishes. According to an estimate, by now long outdated, the volume of world trade in aquarium fishes was worth US$ 400,000,000,000 (Dollar four hundred thousand million). Being a maritime tropical country with a rich fauna of aquarium fishes, Bangladesh can resonably expect her due share of this trade -- only if she wants to, and if she seriously tries for this.
FRI should undertake research on aspects of commercial culture of the potential species of aquarium fishes available in our waters.
Performance of FRI
The Fisheries Research Institute (FRI) is a relatively young research organization, and its Marine Station (MFTS) is still younger. It is, however, gratifying to note that her brilliant scientists equipped with the latest of technologies and genuinely devoted to the development of fisheries through their research initiatives, have already perfected a number of technologies -- some of them ingenious -- and thus making significant contributions to that end, and have earned the appreciation of all concerned. While at Cox's Bazar, I would request you, Mr. Chairman and distinguished participants and guests here, to make it convenient to go round the laboratories and field-projects of FRI to appreciate what they have already achieved in this short period.
I congratualate the Ministry of Fisheries & Livestock and the Fisheries Research Institute on their right decision to hold the all-important Seminar related to marine fisheries at Cox's Bazar, and particularly congratulate the FRI Director, the Chief Scientific Officer and his team of research-scientists as well as their support-staff on their commendable achievements.
I take this opportunity to express my grateful thanks, to you, Mr. Chairman, the organizers of the Seminar and the distinguished participants for the honour done me as the Special Guest on this auspicious occasion and for giving me a patient hearing.
