UNB, Dhaka :Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday asked the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry to take effective steps for tapping the resources from the country’s vast maritime areas.”We’ve got a huge maritime boundary…it’s almost 118,813 square kilometres, we must tap the resources from there, as we’re still lagging behind in this regard,” she said.The Prime Minister gave the directive while inaugurating the National Fisheries Week-2015 at Krishibid Institution Bangladesh (KIB) in the capital.Sheikh Hasina said attaining the maritime boundary is not the last word, as there are huge resources. “We’ve to utilise the resources for the country’s socio-economic development…we need to think about that with due importance,” she said asking the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry to find out those interested in doing this.About the export of fish and fish items, Hasina laid emphasis on strictly maintaining the standard and quality of the export items.”Whenever we want to export something, the standard and quality of the items come first and that’s most important because if the quality and standard are not maintained then the market will be closed for us,” she reminded the exporters.Chaired by Fisheries and Livestock Minister Muhammad Sayedul Hoque, the programme was addressed, among others, by State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Narayon Chandra Chanda and Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Selina Afroza.Sheikh Hasina urged all concerned involved with the fisheries sector to work with utmost professionalism, sincerity and patriotism to uphold the traditional identity of ‘Machche Bhate Bangali’ (Fish and rice make a Bangali).The livelihood of nearly 1.50 crore people of the country is now involved with the fisheries, while over 13 lakh people’s fulltime profession is fishing, the Prime Minister said adding that the fishery sector provides 60 percent of total animal protein, while the fishery resources contribute 4 percent to the GDP and 22.60 percent to agriculture.Realising the importance of this sector, Hasina said, her government framed the National Fisheries Policy-1998 during its 1996-2001 tenure for protecting fish and boosting its output.Due to the various steps, she said, the fish production has risen to 35.48 lakh tonnes in the 2013-14 fiscal year, which was 27 lakh metric tonnes.Hasina said, Bangladesh has secured the fourth position globally in fish production in open water-bodies, while it remains at the 5th place in producing fish in closed water-bodies.
