Address by:
Mr. A.Z.M. Nasiruddin
Secretary
Ministry of Fisheries & Livestock
Government of Bangladesh
Respected Chief Guest, Honourable Minister of State for Planning, Dr. A. Moyeen Khan; respected Special Guest, Prof. Dr. A.K.M. Aminul Haque, former Vice-Chancellor, Bangladesh Agricultural University; distinguished scientists, colleagues, participants and invited guests, ladies and gentlemen, Aslamu Alaikum.
As you know, today's seminar on “Sustainable Development of Marine Fisheries Resources in Bangladesh” is a part of the ‘Fish Fortnight 94’ being jointly organized by FRI and FAO/UNDP. We have discussed on various aspects of inland fisheries in many occasions but much less attention was given on the issues of the development and management of marine fisheries and apparently, marine fisheries sector remained by and large as a less priority area in the fisheries development. This is due to the fact that prior to 1970s the marine sector of the country was believed to offer an unlimited potential of future fish production. The production increased many folds during the last two decades and this was possible due to introduction of mechanized boats, improved fishing gears and trawlers.
The importance of sustainable development of marine fisheries resources has been focussed in recent years because of declining trends of some important demersal stocks, particularly shrimp. In Asia a number of countries in which the important stocks of marine demersal fish and crustaceans are either fully exploited or overfished. If the planned management measures are not taken urgently there is a little prospect of increasing fish production from marine sector in near future.
There were several reports published in the Economic Times indicating that the shrimps were becoming endangered species, because of unplanned exploitation, environmental factors and pirating of our resource by foreign trawlers. As you know, the shrimp, particularly Penaeus monodon, is the most targeted species and is affected by heavy fishing pressures in inshore and offshore water, with trawlers in the deep sea, trammel net in the inshore water, shrimp fry by the seed collection in the shallow water and catching of juvenile shrimp in the estuary by set bagnet fishery. These activities are going on almost round the year leading to decline of the stock. The another factor considered to be most important is environmental pollution.
Piracy of our resources by foreign trawlers in the EEZ is very common. I do not want to mention the name of the country, but one country in particular and her fishing trawlers are mainly responsible for plundering our resources, after they already exhausted their own fishery resources.
The words “Sustainable Development of Marine Resources” are very easy to say but very difficult to achieve. This needs sufficient funds, proper facilities and other sophisticated equipment. In spite of many constraints we had 12–13 surveys since 1958 by national and international agencies, the result of which has shown some estimates of demersal fish and shrimp resources.
However, no survey was carried out on the pelagic resources, which remained untapped in areas other than the presently exploited area by the artisanal and industrial fishing.
I am very happy to get our Planning Minister here as a Chief Guest and he has assured us to give more support for marine fisheries research. The resource survey should be continued in different seasons of the year to evaluate the abundance and promote the exploitation of our valuable resources. This is not a 2–3 years' programme but a continuous one for the marine sector.
Conservation of our marine resources is very important. However, controlled management for measures need proper studies and evaluation to avoid social and economic. It is also true that the fishery biomass can not be increased beyond carrying capacity of the water body even if control measures are enforced.
An estimated 30–40 thousand mt of by-catch is discarded annually into the sea, particularly by our shrimp trawlers. Techniques of processing of by-catch should be developed to make them into a palatable nutritious food for human consumption. Fish species now discarded at sea should be landed for human consumption through value addition for domestic and export markets.
I urge that all participants present should discuss these issues in depth in order to help the planners to plan the future more effectively.
Before concluding the session I wish to request our Honourable Minister to pay a visit to Marine Fisheries and Technology Station (MFTS) of FRI to see personally the ongoing research activities and outstanding achievement made by the station in marine fisheries research with its limited resources. I would like to express my gratitude to our Honourable Minister of Planning for his assurance of more research support for the marine sector.
With these I would like to conclude the inaugural session and request the distinguished participants to initiate fruitful discussion in technical sessions on various issues and come out with relevant recommendations.
