BSS, Dhaka :
Fisheries and Animal Resources Minister Muhammed Sayedul Hoque Sunday urged the fisheries scientists and experts participated at the international workshop here to put forward some sort of recommendations on preservation and development of the marine fisheries of the country considering adverse impacts of the climate change.
“Climate change adverse impacts on fisheries and aquaculture are yet to be assessed, so, we expect the scientists and expert would place climate resilient fisheries and aquaculture development plan before the government for implementation in future for the greater benefit of the country,” the minister said.
The minister made this call to the fisheries scientists and experts as the chief guest while inaugurating a two-day inception workshop on the formulation of ‘Community-based Climate Resilient Fisheries and Aquaculture Development in Bangladesh’at BARC auditorium here.
The Ministry of Fisheries in collaboration with Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and other friendly development partners like Global Environment Facility ( GEF) jointly organized the workshop.
Importance of diversified fisheries ecosystem and fishing-based livelihoods in aquaculture development, the minister said although the marine water bodies are habitat of 475 species of fish, but many species have already been extinct and on the verge of extinction due to climate change and various anthropogenic effects.
Even according to the red list of IUCN, there are 54 species of freshwater fishes are being threatened, the minister mentioned. So, climate resilient fisheries and aquaculture development and adaptation options should be prioritized and framed out for sustained and increased fish production for our future generation, the fisheries minister added.
Besides, as per our commitments to international agreements, Hoque told the workshop that we need to declare 10 per cent our sea Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as Coastal and Marine Protected Areas (CMPAs) by the year 2020. The recent settlement of maritime boundaries with Myanmar and India made the task more urgent and more areas needs to be incorporated under the CMPAs.
Bangladesh now faces problem to declare and manage roughly 12,000 sq-km sea/coastal aea which is 10 per cent of its EEZ as CMPA by 2020 and impacts of climate change, he said, we have to undertake climate resilient fisheries and aquaculture development and adaptation initiatives to achieve the target of 2020-21, the minister added.
Director General of the Department of Fisheries (DoF) Syed Arif Azad chaired the function while FAO Representative in Bangladesh Mike Robson spoke at the workshop as the special guest. High profile government officials, representatives from different government and non-government organizations, professors from different agriculture universities, scientists and fisheries experts from home and abroad, among others, were participated in the workshop.
