DHAKA, Feb 19, 2019 (BSS) – State Minister for Fisheries Md Ashraf Ali Khan
Khasru today said the Bay of Bengal abounds with a total of 475 species of
fishes including 36 species of prawn and different kinds of resources which
is important for the country’s economy and biodiversity.
“In 2017-18 fiscal, six lakh tonnes of fishes, out of total 43 lakh 34
thousand tonnes, came from the sea which was 16 percent of total production
of fishes,” he told a two-day workshop on “Bangladesh Blue Economy Dialogue
on Fisheries and Livestock” at a city hotel today, said a press release.
Fisheries and Livestock Ministry and United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) jointly arranged the workshop.
The state minister said because of sincere efforts of Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina, a total of 1,18813 square kilometer maritime boundary in the Bay of
Bengal has been added with Bangladesh after the settlement of longstanding
disputes with India and Myanmar. It has opened doors of huge potentials and
manifold importance of blue economy in attaining economic advancement, he
added.
Khasru said more than five lakh fishermen at coast areas are contributing a
lot to the fish production side by side with earning their livelihood through
using around 70 thousand machine-run or non-machine vessels.
He said the ministry has taken a US$240 million project titled “Sustainable
coastal and marine fisheries” with the cooperation of the World Bank for the
development of coastal and marine resources.
The ministry is implementing multidimensional initiatives for the optimum
utilization of coastal and marine resources.
He underscored the need for flourishing of fish production through
conducting research on Mariculture, a specialised branch of aquaculture
involving the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other products in
the open ocean, as like as India, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia
and other countries.
FAO representative Jacqueline Alder presented the keynote in the workshop
while Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Md Raisul Alam Mondal, FAO
representative to Bangladesh Robert Doulas Simpson, Foreign Ministry’s
Maritime Affairs Unit Secretary Rear Admiral (retd) Md Khurshed Alam,
Norwegian Ambassador in Dhaka Sidsel Bleken, Fisheries and Livestock
Ministry’s Joint Secretary Toufiqul Arif, Fisheries Department Director
General Abu Sayed Md Rashedul Haque addressed it.