Plan to survey state of fish resources
The government plans to conduct a thorough survey of the inland and coastal waters and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Bay of Bengal to determine the state of the country's fish resources. It is just one of the five fisheries projects under the 1997-1998 Annual Development Programme. The five projects will cost about Tk 200 crore and will be included in the Fifth Five Year Plan, according to official sources. The proposed survey, involving about Tk 52 crore, will examine management of inland and coastal fisheries and that in the EEZ in the Bay.
The country's coast line is about 700 km from east to west, beginning from Teknaf and ending at the Sundarbans. According to an international sea convention, an EEZ of a country starts from its sea shore and spreads over 200 nautical miles (363 km) in the sea. Two other projects will expand the capacity of shrimp and prawn hatcheries at a cost of about Tk 20 crore while a Tk 122.40 crore project - National Package Programme to Improve Fish Culture Entrepreneurship - will focus on private sector fishery development. State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Satish Chandra Roy told The Daily Star the government wanted to carry out a survey of the country's EEZ in the Bay but didn't have a concrete time frame for the project's completion. Director General of the Department of Fisheries Md Liaquat Ali said the project would ensure a thorough survey of the country's waterbodies and its resources, sustainable fish production levels and conservation of different marine species. Dr Aftabuzzaman, former state minister for fisheries and livestock, said the government had planned to conduct survey of the EEZ back in 1980-82. But the initiative failed due to a dispute among Bangladesh, India and Burma. Aftabuzzaman, presently Secretary General of Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters' Association, said a survey was essential to estimate and exploit the country's sea resources. He, however, said the government did not talk to them before preparing any list of fisheries projects. "We can help the government determine the priority projects."