The territorial

waters of Bangladesh extend 22 km, and the exclusive economic zone of the country is 370 km. The total landmass of the country is about 144,400 km2 and extends 820 kilometers north to south and 600 kilometers east to west. The country stretches out at the junction of the Indian and Malayan sub-regions of the Indo-Malayan zoogeographic realm. Formed by a deltaic plain, Bangladesh is virtually the only drainage outlet for a vast complex river basin made up of the Ganges (local name the Padma), the Brahmaputra and the Meghna rivers and their network of tributaries. The Padma unites with the Jamuna (main channel of the Brahmaputra) and later joins the Meghna to eventually empty into the Bay of Bengal. The alluvial soil deposited by these rivers every year has created some of the most fertile plains in the world. Most parts of the delta are less than 12 metres above the sea level, and it is believed that about 50% of the land would be flooded if the sea level rise by a metre. Straddling the Tropic of Cancer, Bangladesh has a tropical monsoon climate characterized by heavy seasonal rainfall, high temperatures, and high humidity. There are three broad physiographic regions in the country. It is a country dominated by wetland having more than 50% of its territory under true wetlands that is freshwater marshes, swamps, rivers estuaries and the world’s largest contiguous mangrove forest -the Sundarbans. Bangladesh has a total inland water area of 6.7 million ha of which 94% is used for open water capture fishery and 6% for closed water culture fishery. The inland open water fishery resources have been playing a significant role in the economy, culture, tradition and food habit of the people of Bangladesh. Rivers and their ramified branches cover about 479,735 ha area of land. Seasonal floodplain expands over a massive 5.5 million ha for 4-6 months of the year. Inland open water also contains estuarine areas with semi-saline waters (0-10 ppt), huge number of beels  (natural depressions often with permanent area of water) and haors  (bowl-shaped deeply flooded depressions) in the north and east and the manmade Kaptai lake-the largest lake of the country in the south. The country is blessed with 0.26 million of closed waters in the form of ponds, ditches, oxbow lakes (channel of dead rivers) and brackish water farms

 

Hilsha
(Tenualosa ilisha)

Shrimp
(Caridea)

Silver Pomfret
(Pampus argenteus)

Ribbonfish
Trachipteridae

 

Coastal and Marine area of Bangladesh:

The recent international verdicts on the disputed maritime areas with the neighboring countries India and Myanmar, the coverage of Bangladesh’s marine system estimated to 118,813 sq km, with an extended continental shelf about 37,000 sq km having up to 50 m depth. The coastal and marine ecosystem of Bangladesh is a part of the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem which is one of world’s 64 Large Marine Ecosystems. Like other global coastal com- munities, ecosystem services from the coastal and marine ecosystem play a vital role in the livelihoods and income of millions of people living in the coastal zone of Bangladesh and beyond. For instance, about 2, 70,000 fishing households directly and indirectly dependent on the marine fishery for their livelihoods.

The permanent maritime boundary of Bangladesh after settlement with India and Myanmar

 

Production:

The Bay of Bengal is situated in the South of Bangladesh. There is a total of 166,000 sq. km. water area including Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Fishing is only confined within 200-meter depth. About 255  trawlers, 67,669 mechanized and non-mechanized boats are engaged in fishing. In the year 2017-18 total fish production from Marine source was 6.55 lac metric MT.

Last 5 years fish production is shown in the following table

Year                Production from marine source (MT)
2017-2018 6,54,687
2016-2017 6,37,476
2015-2016 6,26,528
2014-2015 5,99,846
2013-2014 5,95,385
Total 31,13,922

 

There are three categories of major fisheries resources, these are-

  1. Inland Capture (28.45%)
  2. Inland Culture (56.24%)
  3. Marine Capture (15.31%)

 

Hilsa Production:

  • Commercially important marine fishery species is an important source of animal protein, income and employment, also deserves credit in earning foreign exchange. Hilsa fishery alone generates income and employment for 2.5 million people with an annual value of USD 1.3 billion. The most important (culturally and economically) one is hilsa (Ilish), Tenualosa ilisha, Hilsa is an anadromous fish. It lives mainly in the seas but travels upstream to the freshwaters to spawn eggs and then migrate back to the seas. It can be caught at any stage of its life cycle at different sizes and from different types of fishing grounds. Hilsa is therefore caught in the seas (marine fisheries) as well as in the fresh waters (inland capture fisheries) and also in the estuaries and coastal areas. Hilsa is available almost throughout the year in various amounts. June to March is the peak fishing season, a major peak season is between September and October and a minor between February and March. A wide range of fishing gears is used for catching Hilsa. There are about half a million Hilsa fishers in Bangladesh and about 92 per cent of them are concentrated in the divisions of Barisal and Chittagong

  • This table presents estimates of Hilsa consumption derived from BBS (BANGLADESH BUREAU OF STATISTICS) data.

  • To arrive at the figure for Hilsa production from DoF data, the amount of legal and illegal exports of Hilsa has to be estimated and added to the consumption figures

  • Marine Capture fisheries legislation, regulations and policies:

In Bangladesh under the Protection and Conservation of Fish Act 1950, juvenile hilsa (jatka) (up to 23.0 cm size) catch, transportation, marketing, selling and possessing have been banned between 01 November and 31 May in every year. In recent years, Bangladesh navy has implemented fishery protection campaigns on the basis of season (from January to March) to protect the most popular fish Hilsha (Tenualosa ilisha). This campaigns usually called “operation Jhatka”. Bangladesh enforced a 22-day ban on Hilsa fishing in 27 districts in a view to increase the inhabitants of the popular fish species, which contributes more than one 1% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Catching, selling, transportation, storage and exchange of Hilsa fish is now banned across the country and will be particularly enforced in a 7,000 square km area designated as breeding zone. The government has deployed the coast guard, naval police and other forces to ensure whether fishermen are obeying the ban. The Economics Times compelled that if anyone is found breaking the ban could face a fine between 5,000 to 10,000 Taka, confiscating of fishing equipment and up to two years in prison.

  • Marine Fish Capture Management:

Bangladesh has a centralized fisheries management system under the Department of Fisheries of the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries. The present Fisheries Policy was adopted in 1998 to enhance resources and production, reduce poverty through self-employment in the sector, supply the need for animal protein, achieve economic growth and earn foreign exchange while maintaining ecological balance, biodiversity and public health. In 2006, the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock adopted a Fisheries Strategy pushing further towards poverty reduction, co-management and conservation of resources. But even though the Hilsa fishery is regulated through some technical management measures, such as reduction in mesh size and fishing closures, the overall management of fishery resources in the country is currently insufficient to control effort. This is primarily due to the lack of funding and resources committed to sustainable fisheries management.