UNB, Bagerhat :
Trespassing by fishermen from neighbouring countries into Bangladesh’s marine boundary in the Bay of Bengal has marked a sharp rise in recent times.
Over the last eight days, members of the Bangladesh Navy and Coast Guard detained some 75 foreign fishermen — 55 Indian and 20 Sri Lankan-in the bay, raising concern among the local fishermen as the intruders sometimes attack the local fishing units and loot their catches.
Bangladesh shares its maritime boundary with India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar. Fishing units of those countries comprise of larger, speedier trawler, more manpower and more effective fishing gears compared to those used by the local units that have led to an uneven competition over fishing in the bay, they complained.
Coast Guard Mongla East Zone staff officer (operation) Lt Commander M Alauddin Nayan told UNB that they are receiving verbal complaints from local fishermen once in a while about the illegal intrusion of the country’s territory by foreign fishing units.
On his return from the fishing in the Bay of Bengal, Hakim Fakir, a fisherman of Sharankhola upazila, told UNB, “Indian fishermen come to fish inside Bangladesh’s marine territory in speedy trawlers. They have larger fishing nets and greater manpower.”
“If the local fishermen try to stop them from catching fish in the bay they face assaults from the intruders,” he added.
Kamal Fakir, another fisherman of the same upazila, alleged that the foreign fishing units, on many occasions, “interrupt their fishing by setting their nets very close to ours. If we protest, they cut off our nets and beat us… they’re usually greater in number.”
The UNB correspondent also talked to some Indian fishermen, identified as Bimal Das, Basudeb Das and Nikhil Das of West Bengal, on the court premises, who claimed that they entered Bangladesh territory accidentally as they misread the boundary.
