Present Scenario of Forest resources in Bangladesh: A Compact Analysis (Part-one)

1.      Introduction:

Bangladesh is an independent and sovereign state since December 1971. It has about 157.22052 million people (2014) that is 2.19% of worlds total and growing at about 2.1% per annum with about 80% of them living in rural areas in 59, 990 villages having an average household size of 5.3 persons. The overall literacy rate is 32.4% but the literacy rate of women is about 50% of men. The population density is very high and situated in the northeastern part of South Asia between 20° 34' and 26° 38' north latitude and between 88° 01' and 92° 41' east longitude. It lies in the active delta of three major rivers viz Padma, Meghna and Jamuna and their numerous tributaries. The country covers an area of 1,47,570 sq.km and bounded by India from the west, north, and most of east. Myanmar lies on the southeastern edge and bay of Bengal on the south.

Forest Resources are renewable resources which can provide timber, pulp, pole, fuelwood, food, medicine, and habitat for wildlife and primary base for biodiversity A small tract of higher land occurs in Sylhet, Mymensingh, Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) regions. The southwestern region consists of a large number of dead and cut-off rivers. The coastal part of Bangladesh includes the famous Sundarbans Mangrove Forest. A number of depressed basins are found in the district of greater Mymensingh and Sylhet which are inundated by fresh water during the monsoon that gradually dries out during the dry winter season. These depressed basins are known as ‘Haor’. The climate of Bangladesh is sub-tropical and monsoon rainfall varies from 1200-3500mm. Rice is the major cereal crop while jute, sugarcane, and tea are the main cash crops. Other important crops are wheat, tobacco, pulses, vegetables, and tree fruits. Garments, raw and manufactured jute goods tea, fish and hides and skins are the chief exports. Bangladesh is noted for its estuarine environment, yet less than 10% of its total water flow originates from its own catchments, and rest comes from India, Nepal, and Bhutan. Normally, 20% of the country gets flooded during the monsoon period.

Bangladesh has a border on the west, north, and east with India, on the southeast with Myanmar, and The Bay of Bengal is to the south. Geologically, Bangladesh is a part of the Bengal Basin, one of the largest geosynclinals in the world. The Basin is bordered on the north by the steep Tertiary Himalayas; on the northeast and east by the late Tertiary Shillong Plateau, the Tripura hills of lesser elevation, and the Naga-Lusaiolded belt; and in the west by the moderately high, ancient Chotanagpur plateau. The southern fringe of the basin is not distinct, but geophysical evidence indicates it is open towards the Bay of Bengal for a considerable distance. The formation and growth of the Bengal Basin is directly related to the origin and morphology of the Indo-Gangetic trough, which itself is overlaid and filled by sediments thousands of meters thick (Rahman, 1994). The broad geological features of the Bengal Basin and its prominent tectonic elements are Indian platform, Bengal foredeep, ArakanYoma folded system, and the Sub-Himalayan Foredeep. Other features are Rangpur Saddle, Dinajpur slope, Bogra slope, Hinge Zone, Barisal High, and Troughs of Sylhet, Faridpur and Hatiya, etc. The floor of the Bengal Basin consists of quaternary sediments deposited by the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, and the Meghna rivers, known together as the GBM river system, and their numerous tributaries and distributaries. The sediments are washed down from highlands on three sides of the Basin, particularly from the Himalayas, where the slopes are steeper and the rocks less consolidated.

Over 92 percent of the annual runoff generated in the GBM catchment area flows through Bangladesh, although it comprises only about 7 percent of the total catchment (Coleman, 1969). The whole country consists of mainly low and flat land, except for the hilly regions in the northeast and southeast. Bangladesh has a comparatively low natural resource base, but a high growth rate of population, with almost half of the population below fifteen years of age. Most of the people are among the poorest in the world and depend mainly on the natural resource base for their livelihood. But now the resource base is under serious threat, as many natural resources are either being overexploited or used sub-optimally. Besides the effects of anthropogenic stresses, the low 'land-man' ratio in the country is often further threatened by natural hazards. Thus, for the survival of Bangladesh's dense population, it is essential to have environmental planning and management that conserves and sustains the ecosystems that support their livelihoods. The high population density, low economic growth, lack of institutional infrastructure, an intensive dependence on agriculture and agricultural products, geographical settings, and various other factors, all contribute to making the country weak in its economic development and quality of life

2.      Land & Forest Areas:

 Of the total area of Bangladesh, agricultural land makes up 65% of its geographic surface, forest lands account for almost 17%, while urban areas are 8% of the area. Water and other land use account for the remaining 10%. The total forestland includes classified and unclassified state lands and homestead forests and tea/rubber gardens. In the case of private forests, the data represent the tree-covered areas.

Of the 2.52 million hectares Forest Land, Forest Department manages 1.52 million hectares which include Reserved, Protected and Acquired forest, and Mangrove forest on the newly accreted land in estuaries of major rivers. The remaining 0.73 million hectares of land designated as Unclassed State Forest (USF) are under the control of the Ministry of Land. Village forests (homestead land) form the most productive tree resource base in the country and accounts for 0.27 million hectare

                                               Table: Forest areas in Bangladesh:

  3.      Forest Departments:

The Ministry of Environment and Forests was formed in 1989, both the departments were transferred to this new Ministry. The DoE has been placed under the MoEF as its technical wing and is statutorily responsible for the implementation of the Environment Conservation Act, 1995.

Besides these two departments, MoEF controls the Bangladesh Forest Industries Development Corporation (BFIDC), Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI) and Bangladesh National Herbarium (BNH). The Ministry of Environment & Forests is the nodal agency in the administrative structure of the Central Government, for the planning, promotion, co-ordination and overseeing the implementation of environmental and forestry programmes. MoEF oversees all environmental matters in the country and is a permanent member of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council.

Apart from two major departments, i.e., Department of Environment and Department of Forest, working under this ministry, there are three others

3.1.BFRI

Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI) was established in 1955 and mandated to provide research support to the Forestry sub-sector of the country, including Forest Department, Bangladesh Forest Industries Development Corporation, NGO and other private enterprises. BFRI's research activities aim to develop appropriate technologies to maintain sustainable productivity of forest land and of forest industries without resource depletion.

3.2. Bangladesh National Herbarium (BNR)

Bangladesh National Herbarium is a plant survey, collection, identification and conservation organization. It documents the plant biological diversity of the country and its collections are accessible samples of natural population. The collection of the herbarium is a national property that goes down to the posterity through generation for hundreds of years and work as reference materials on the flora of the country. The National Herbarium serves as repository of technical information on plant genetic resources and advises the Government on technical aspects of question dealt with by the herbarium. It also provides direction required in the implementation of policies laid down by the Government in relation to plant biodiversity conservation.

3.3. BFIDC

Bangladesh Forest Industries Development Corporation (BFIDC) is mandated to rubber plantation, processing and to extract timber from inaccessible Forest areas. After sawing, seasoning and treatments, these timbers are used in wood based industries for production of quality furniture, electric poles, anchor logs, cross arms, railway slippers, doors & windows, woodtex, tea chest and plywood etc. In addition to this, BFIDC have been raising Rubber plantation in the district of greater chittagong, Sylhet, Mymensingh and Tangail since 1961 in order to increase the productivity of the fellow forest land through producing row rubber in the country. BFIDC so far has raised 32,625 acres of started plantation in its 15 (fifteen) Rubber Estates in greater Chittagong, Sylhet, Tangail and Mymensingh districts and 10 (ten) acres experimental rubber plantation in Barind tract (Rangpur distict ) to test the viability of rubber plantation. Besides, about 33,000 acres rubber plantation has been raised in private sector with technical assistance of BFIDC.

4.      Forest Management:

Forest is a very important renewable resource in Bangladesh. It provides materials like timber, pulp, pole, fuel wood, food, medicine, habitat for wildlife and primary base for biodiversity. It also provides oxygen, controls or reduces the intensity of the cyclones and tidal surges in the coastal areas of Bangladesh, influences the rainfall, and sustained water yield in the river systems etc. Besides these, forest is also used for hunting, and nature based tourism. Now a days, eco-tourism is the preferred type of tourism and it is widely believed that eco-tourism could be an alternative mechanism for environmentally sustainable development without depleting the forest resources and its habitat and biodiversity. Considering all these, forest and consequently forest management is getting importance with the passage of time.

Present Scenario of fisheries in Bangladesh - Part -two

4.       Sources of Revenue Earnings

There are two major sources for government revenue-earning:

1. Tax Revenues (TR)

2. Non-tax Revenues (NTR)

All revenue earning by the DoF is Non-tax Revenues. During last five years, non-tax revenue earned by the DoF is shown in Table

Table: Nontax revenue earned in the last five years

2.    Marketing and export/ import:

Almost all farmed produced shrimps are exported as processed frozen seafood and are the second-largest export item in Bangladesh. The contribution of fisheries sub-sector to the total export earnings during 2010-11 was 2.73%. Presently 82 processing plants are in operation, all are HACCP certified and licensed by DoF for export of fish and fish products to European Union (EU), USA, Japan, Russia, Korea, China and India. In order to find out new market destination, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock have already sent a proposal to sign MoU with five East- European Nations for exporting fishery products. As a consequence of repeated Rapid Alert System of Food and Feed (RASFF) against Bangladeshi freshwater prawn being contamination with Nitrofuran metabolites especially Semicarbazide (SEM) in May 2009. Bangladesh Government had been imposed a six-month voluntary ban on the export of freshwater prawn to the EU market. The number of RASFF was increased in 2009 because of adopting faulty protocol by Belgian testing laboratory. The Belgian laboratory started testing shrimp with tail and exoskeleton instead of flesh. Under these circumstances, Bangladesh along with donors and private initiatives undertook several measures to identify sources of Nitrofuran contamination. As well as the country has been engaged in an international residue expert to research the issue.

 Finally the fact was identified that live crustaceans are able to synthesize SEM naturally and accumulate it in their shell and tail. In order to check the quality of exported shrimp the EU authority has imposed a 20% mandatory testing requirement at border entry of European countries. MoFL along with DoF took serious measures to rectify the controlling measures, legal provisions as well as monitoring measures of food contamination. As a result, the EU authority has lifted the 20% mandatory testing requirement of exported products at the EU border and it is notable that this mandatory requirement still prevails in some large shrimp exporting countries. Fish is exported to foreign countries, other than India, through Chittagong and Mongla Ports. Of late, some fish and shrimp are also being air-freighted to the Middle –East, and U.K. from Dacca. Until recently, fish used to be exported to India from many different centers. It has now been decided that the BFDC will control all fish export to India through five selected points viz., Barisal, Khulna, Sylhet, Narayanganj, and Fardipur.

2.1. Equipment import

The major imports of equipment since 1972 consist of trawlers (from USSR, UK, Denmark), marine engines (from USSR, Denmark, Japan, Sweden, Norway, Germany), Synthetic twine and ropes (from USSR, Denmark, Japan, Norway), boat-building timber (from India), refrigeration complexes (from Japan, Denmark), ice plants (from Denmark, Norway, Rumania), a fishmeal plant and a shark liver oil plant (from Denmark), a fully equipped inland fishery research vessel (from Denmark), refrigerated and insulated lorries (from Rumania, Japan) and training equipment for marine fishing (from USSR).

3.   Fish and Shrimp Culture

3.1.               Fish Culture

3.1.1.   Pond aquaculture

Currently pond aquaculture has been practiced in a total area of about 3.5 lakh ha which is 7.4 % of total inland water. Pond aquaculture is producing about 1199866 mt fish which contributing 47.70% of total inland production in 2010-11. The pond production involves composite culture produces an average 3430 kg/ha whereas there are records of 63 mt/ha production of pangas under intensive farming in Mymensingh region.

3.1.2.       Fish culture in paddy field

Paddy fields and seasonal floodplains are promising and potential resources for aquaculture. It has been estimated that paddy fields cover an area of about 80 lakh ha of which 28.34 lakh ha floodplains which remain 4-5 months under water.

3.1.3.       Fish culture in borrow-pit and khal

Different types of waterbodies improved under Integrated Fisheries and Livestock Development Project in Flood Control, Drainage and Irrigation (FCDI) Project area and other waterbodies also included in the aquaculture systems.

3.1.4.   Fish culture in baor (Ox-bow lake):

A total of about 600 baors having an area of 5,488 ha are situated in the south west part of the country. Different development projects have been implementing to increase the fish production from baor. The total water area of baors have been developed and brought under improved aquaculture through fingerling stocking and management practices. Six baors of Jessore district were under disposal of DoF till Feb/2009 and now these baors are under disposal of Department of Fisheries according to the MoU signed between Ministry of Land and Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries for next 6 years. Besides this, 30 baors are managing by OLP-2 project of DoF with the financial support of IFAD. These baors covered area of 1137 ha and fish production has increased from 80 kg to 750 kg/ha (DoF 2008). Local fisher communities are being involved in the baor management and improved their livelihood.

3.1.5.   Cage culture

Cage aquaculture has been identified as a means of livelihoods for landless people. Northwest Fisheries Extension Project (NFEP) in Parbatipur, Dinajpur and Patuakhali Barguna Aquaculture Extension Project (PBAEP) demonstrated cage aquaculture as pilot basis. The production achieved through cage culture was encouraging and satisfactory but the activities were discontinued due to socio-economic condition of the farmers and some constrains. Cage culture of monosex tilapia is being practiced in Chandpur, Laxmipur Faridpur, Barishal, Mymensingh, Dhaka, Munsigonj, Gopalganj and other regions of Bangladesh. In 2011, about 6750 MT fish produced from 6000 cages.

3.1.6.  Pen culture

Pen culture is also one of the potential means of producing fish from vast water body or water channel. In recent years, pens are made with different materials like bamboo, net, iron-meshed, wooden pillar etc. The area of pen also varies in size from half to few ha. The fish species reared in the pen are carp, tilapia, pangas etc.

3.1.7.      Integrated fish farming:

The integration of aquaculture with duck and chicken production was begun experimentally at the BFRI, Mymensingh producing some promising results. The project demonstrated that 500 khaki Campbell ducks can be profitably raised on a 1 ha carp pond while also producing 4.5 tonnes/ha of fish without any additional need for supplementary feed or fertiliser for the fish. The most promising integrated farming in Bangladesh however, is rice fish culture, Ameen (1987) reported on the technique from many parts of Bangladesh. Traditionally one or more sump pond(s) are constructed at the lowest corner of the paddy field where fish accumulate as the water level reduces, thus fish are harvested from the sump without any additional stocking or management practices being required.

       6.2.1.  Shrimp Culture:

The major shrimp producing districts are Bagerhat, Satkhira, Pirojpur, Khulan, Cox's Bazar and Chittagong, recently farmers especially in the Bagerhat and Pirojpur districts have begun shrimp farming in their paddy fields. Traditionally shrimp farming began by trapping tidal waters in nearby coastal enclosures known as 'gher' where no feed, fertilisers or other inputs were applied, with an increasing demand from both national and international markets farmers started to switch over into improved extensive and semi-intensive systems.

With the expansion of aquaculture, environmental degradation, biodiversity and the control of the outbreak of disease especially in the coastal farming operations have become the major issues. Shrimp post larvae (PL) collectors are estimated to destroy nearly 100 other species of flora and fauna while collecting post larvae of Penaeus monodon , moreover, the destruction of mangrove forest for coastal shrimp culture and the introduction of viral diseases in semi-intensive farms has also become serious issues for concern. For inland aquaculture, habitat destruction, the use of insecticides and the introduction of diseases like epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) have also become important issues. There are two types of cultue

1.      Shrimp (Bagda) Culture

2.      Shrimp (Golda) Culture

Shrimp farming and production:

Prawn(golda) farming and production:

4.      FISHERY ORGANISATIONS

Several organizations are involved in fishery development. Thus the fishery administration and management in Bangladesh is characterized by multiple controls. The main administrative body was however, the Forest Fisheries and Livestock Division of the Ministry of agriculture until June 1977 when the Government by issuing a notification had transferred "Marine Fishery, Fishing and Fisheries beyond territorial waters (including deep sea fishing), Fish Harbours, Fish Quality Testing Laboratories at Chittagong and Khulna and other ancillary organizations" from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Commerce. However, since December 1977, the Government has again reconsolidated both marine and inland fisheries in a newly established Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock. This action augurs well for the future of fisheries. The recent moves are also most commendable evidence of the recognition on the part of a forward-looking Government of the great importance of the living aquatic resources for the future of Bangladesh. The chief public sector agencies involved in the implementation of fishery development activities are Directorate of Fisheries and Bangladesh Development Corporation (BFDC). Other departments and agencies of public and cooperative sectors involved one way or the other in fisheries activities are (a) Directorate of Cooperatives (b) Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), (c) Ministry of Land Administration and Land Reform (d) Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (e) Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC), (f) Bangladesh Jatiya Matshyajibi Samabaya Samity (BJMSS), (g) Planning Commission and certain (h) Universities. A few voluntary organizations are also directly involved in fishery development

5.      FISH PROCESSING CENTRE

i. BFDC

ii. BSFIC

iii. BJMSS

vi. Private entrepreneurs

i.                    BFDC :

Fish processing facilities of the BFDC are located at Cox's Bazar, Chittagong and Mongla. The fish processing complex at Cox's Bazar is located on a 4 - hectare plot on the Baghkhali river about three and-a-half miles upstream from the mouth of the river, and about 3 miles upstream from the BFDC Wholesale Fish Market. The processing complex which has been in operation since 1966-67 includes crude facilities for manufacturing fishmeal and sharkliver oil. There is also a modern drying kiln at Cox's Bazar. Al the Chittagong Fish Harbour, small-scale canning facilities, a modern sharkliver oil plant, a fishmeal plant and a freezing plant are available under the scheme "Fish and by-products processing units at Chittagong". The canning machineries were received from Japan through UNDP source back in 1968. The sharkliver oil plant and the fishmeal plant have been procured through DANIDA and installed in 1976-77. The freezing plant is of Japanese origin but donated by the USSR Government. The plant was installed at the end of 1977. At Mongla in Khulna, a refrigeration complex of Danish orgin is being installed on a 13.4 hectare plot of land acquired on the left bank of the Pussur river in the port area. The installation work cannot perhaps be completed before the end of 1978. In addition to providing ice and cold storage facilities to the fishermen of Sundarbans area, this complex will process shrimp and fish and export them in frozen condition.

ii.                  BSFIC

There are two factories at Khulna, namely, Bangladesh Cold Storage, and Fish Export Limited, and three at Chittagong, namely, Bay Fishing Limited, Amin Agency, and Eastern Fisheries Limited, engaged in processing (dressing, packaging and freezing) shrimp, fish and frogles. These are hundred percent export-oriented industries, and the factories export all of their products in frozen condition.

iii.                BJMSS

The Bangladesh Jatiya Motshyajibi Samabaya Samity has dressing, packaging and freezing facilities at Chittagong. The BJMSS's processing facilities are also hundred percent export-oriented.

iv.                Private entrepreneurs

There are two factories, namely, Eastern Sea Food Ltd., and Labonchora Fish Processing Factory in Khulna and three factories namely, Frozen Food, Banglaesh Food, and Choudhury & Co. in Chittagong. Like the BSFIC and BJMSS, the private fish processing factories are also entirely export oriented and have dressing, packaging and freezing facilities. Fish processing in the small-scale fishery sector includes sun-drying, salting and smoking. Although no correct statistics are available, large volumes of fish and shrimp are sun-dried in a crude way by the small fishermen. In Dubla Island (Khulna) alone, about 3,000 tons (dry weight) of dry fish including 60 tons of dry shrimp are produced annually.

9. The institutional framework:

The following institutional bodies are involved in aquaculture and fisheries in Bangladesh:

• Department of Fisheries (DoF) under the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MoFL) is the sole authority with administrative control over aquaculture in Bangladesh. The DoF is managed by a Director General and has two main sub-departments namely, inland and marine. The main responsibilities held by the DoF include planning, development, extension and training, DoF has six divisional offices, 64 district offices and 497 upazilla (sub-districts) offices and in addition it has 118 hatcheries and four training centers (Mazid, 2002).
• Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) conducts and coordinates research and to some extent training.
• Bangladesh Rural Development Board is responsible for the fisheries component of integrated rural development.
• Land Administration and Land Reform Division is responsible for the leasing of public water bodies.
• Export Promotion Bureau is responsible for export of fisheries products, along with the Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association which is also involved in the export of frozen shrimp, fish and fish products.
• The country's universities are responsible for higher level fisheries education.
• External Resource Division under the Ministry of Finance is responsible for external aid for aquaculture development.
• Bangladesh Krishi (Agriculture) Bank, Bangladesh Samabay (Co-operative) Bank and some other commercial banks are responsible for issuing credit to the aquaculture sector.
• Many of the national and international NGO's provides credits to the fish farmers and as well as takes up projects for aquaculture extension and development.
• International organizations (DFID, Danida, NORAD, JICA, World Bank, IMF, ADB etc.) provide grants and credits for aquaculture development.
• Youth Development Training Centers, under the Ministry of Youth, deals with extension and the training of unemployed young people and fish farmers.

10. Applied research, education and training:  

 Experts from the DoF, BFRI, universities and NGOs develop research ideas and agree priorities through detailed discussion in workshops, the selected research topics are then sent to the MoFL for approval and execution. The main task of conducting applied and adaptive research has been bestowed upon the BFRI although universities are also involved. The Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) is the national body for coordinating, monitoring and evaluating all aquaculture research, in addition international organisations such as CIRDAP, FAO, DFID, Danida, World Bank, CIDA, IDRC and World Fish Center are also involved in action oriented research programs related to aquaculture in Bangladesh.

Formal fisheries education and research first began at the Faculty of Fisheries, Bangladesh Agricultural University in Mymensingh in 1967, the faculty offers B.Sc. Fisheries (eight semesters), M.Sc. (three semesters) and Ph.D. degrees in various specialised areas of fisheries and aquaculture. Later, the Institute of Marine Science was established at Chittagong University in 1973, followed by the Fisheries and Marine Science discipline in Khulna University in 1991, the Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries at Dhaka University in 1998 and the Department of Aquaculture at Rajshahi University in 2000 for fisheries education and research. The Zoology departments at the above and other universities also offer subjects related to aquaculture and fisheries.

The Bangladesh Agricultural University offers training to the Government and NGO fisheries officers through its Graduate Training Institute, other institutes offering fisheries education and training are the Marine Fisheries Academy, Chittagong which offers 1–2 year diploma courses, the Fisheries Training Academy at Savar, Dhaka, the Fisheries Training Institute, Chandpur, offers 1–3 months training. The Fish Hatchery and Training Center, Raipur, the Fisheries Training Center, Faridpur and Vocational Youth Training Centers provide diploma certificates.

Trends, issues and development. 11. Recommendation:

The following issues require to be addressed in future:

• To bring all available water bodies under modern fish culture regimes.
• To generate increased employment opportunities in fisheries and allied industries.
• To conserve fisheries resources and species biodiversity.
• To develop fish landing and marketing systems.
• To establish institutional frameworks to ensure research findings are made available to the relevant people.
• To provide an adequate provision of financial assistance to fish and shrimp farmers.
• To increase and sustain fish production for both domestic consumption and export.

Present scenario of fisheries in Bangladesh- Part one

1.      Introduction:

Bangladesh is a South Asian country located in between latitude 20°34' and 26°39' north and longitude 80°00' and 90°41' east. The country is crisscrossed with hundreds of rivers and it has established a credible record of sustained growth within a stable macro-economic framework where fisheries sector play an imperative and prospective involvement in agro-based pecuniary expansion, destitution easing, employment and delivering of animal protein and grossing the overseas exchange. Fish (including shrimp and prawn) is the second most valuable agricultural crop and its production contributes to the livelihoods and employment of millions. The key objectives of the sector are enhanced fisheries production; poverty alleviation through creating self-employment and improvement of the socio-economic paradigm of the fishers; meet the demand for animal protein; achieve economic growth and earn foreign currency by exporting fish and fisheries products and maintain ecological balance; conserve biodiversity and improve public health.

Bangladesh has achieved remarkable progress in the fisheries sector since its independence in 1971. Fisheries sector has been playing a very significant role and deserves potential for future development in the agrarian economy of Bangladesh. This sector contributes 4.39% to the national GDP and almost one fourth (22.76%) to the agricultural GDP (Bangladesh Economic Review 2012). In recent years, this sector performs the highest GDP growth rate in comparison to other agricultural sectors (crop, livestock, and forestry). The growth rate of this sector over the last 10 years is almost steady and encouraging, varying from 4.76 to 7.32 percent with an average of 5.61 percent. Whereas the last four years the average growth rate of this sector is 6.22 percent. The country's export earnings from this sector are 2.46% in 2011-12. The sector's contribution to the national economy is much higher than its 4.39% share in GDP, as it provides about 60% of the animal protein intake and more than 11% of the total population of the country is directly or indirectly involved in this sector for their livelihoods. There are 40.24 lakh ha open water bodies in our country. Among them, 8.5 lakh ha are rivers and estuaries, 1.8 lakh ha Sundarbans, 1.1 lakh ha beel, 28.32 lakh ha floodplains and 68,800 ha Kaptai. Beel is one of the best natural habitats for the indigenous fishes of different food habits of Bangladesh. Most of the aquatic species especially the fish and prawn enter the inundated areas of the beel from the adjoining rivers and canals to feed and grow during the monsoon months.  The ‘beel’ a Bengali term is used for a large surface water body that accumulates surface runoff water through the internal drainage channel. Bangladesh has thousands of beels, with the most common names being Chalan Beel, Gopalganj-Khulna Beel, Meda Beel, Aila Beel, Dekhar beel, Kuri Beel, Erali beel, and Arial Beel. The average rate of production from beel is 714 kg/ha which can be increased manifold.

 Therefore, it can reduce its malnutrition problem by increasing the production of fish. The fisheries sector creates more than 1.65 million people in employment opportunities. A large portion of rural family members is engaged in part-time fishing from the rivers and other open water bodies. The mission of the fish department is to support sustainable growth in fish and shrimp production with other aquatic resources for domestic consumption and exports as well and management of open water fisheries resources through community participation leading to equitable distribution of the benefits generated for optimal economic and social growth of Bangladesh. The total area of perennial inland water is generally estimated at 1.58 million hectares while the area of inundated paddy fields and other low-lying places that retain monsoon waters for about six months allowing seasonal fish culture is estimated at 2.83 million hectares. The Republic has a 480 - kilometer long coastline and approximately 1 million hectares of territorial waters. The nation's exclusive economic zone extends 320 km out to the sea from the coastline. Thus the nation's total area of waters having fish production potential is very great.

2.      Fishery Resources:

Bangladesh is endowed with rich and extensive fisheries resources. Due to natural conditions and geographical location, Bangladesh has huge fisheries resources having a high potential of increasing fisheries production. The country's fisheries may be conveniently divided into inland and marine sectors, although the dividing line between salt and freshwater, and open sea and inland waterway is very nebulous. Fishermen too move seasonally from inland open waters to sea fishing so that any demarcation between the two fisheries must be arbitrary. Inland fisheries is further divided into two groups i.e. aqua-culture and inland capture. Inland fisheries occupy an area of 45.75 lakh ha and marine capture covers 1, 66,000 sq.km. The culture fisheries include ponds, ox-bow lakes, and coastal shrimp farms. The flood-plains and the beels, which cover an area of 29.5 lakh ha, offering tremendous scope and potential for augmenting fish production by adopting aquaculture based enhancement techniques.

2.1. Inland Fisheries

The inland fishery resources of Bangladesh are considered to be unexcelled either in area or potential by any other inland fisheries of the world. Inland fisheries contribute nearly 90 percent to the total catch of fish in Bangladesh. Inland culture includes mainly pond/ditch, baor, shrimp/prawn farm, seasonal cultured water-body etc. covering an area of about 7.41 lakh ha and produces 17.26 lakh MT fish and shrimp in the 2011-12. Though the closed water area is only 15.55% of the total inland water-bodies, but 52.92% of the total yield comes from inland aquaculture. The inland water resources can be conveniently divided into the following categories:

 a) Open inland waters which include the rivers and their tributaries; 'baors', 'haors' and 'beels' connected at least occasionally with rivers and streams; and the estuaries, The main river system in Bangladesh includes the Padma, the Meghna, The  Brahmaputra and the Karnaphuli and their tributaries. The baors comprise ox-bow lakes and other forms of defunct rivers. There are many large and small baors in Jessore district and several in the districts of Kushtia and Faridpur. Among the larger baors in Jessore, Baluhar Baor (272 hectare), Joydia Baor (207), Sasta Baor (187), Morjad Baor (292), Bergobindapur Boar (214) and Jhampa Baor (183) represent only a few. The haors  synonymously called beels, are natural depressions used partially as agricultural lands, and seasonally or perennially filled from adjacent rivers or monsoon waters. Most of the larger haors/beels are located in Sylhet, Mymensingh and Faridpur. Kakaluki Haor (36,437 hectare), Tangua Haor (25,506) and Bardai Haor (3,239) in Sylhet district, and Beel Meskha (6,478) and Bengla Char Banda (6,073) in Mymensingh are among the big freshwater and salt water. The estuarine region of Bangladesh is interspersed with numerous distributaries of rivers, inlets of the sea and defunct streams which are interconnected with numerous channels. The deltaic area in Bangladesh is an archipelago. 

b) Closed waters include ponds, dighis and tanks. For irrigation and other general purposes the feudal kings moharajas and land lords of the past had excavated tanks, dighis (larger tanks) and moats and thus set examples of their benevolent spirit for the good of their subjects. Simultaneously, well-to-do commoners also for their own requirements excavated quite a large number of tanks and dighis but of comparatively small size. As a result, water bodies of assorted shape and size are common almost everywhere in the country. In some places these ponds and dighis are widely scattered and, in some places in clusters or in groups. With political and social changes, the system of administration has also changed and the feudal system has since been abolished. All landed properties including the ponds owned by the Zamindars have been acquired by the Government. Due to continuous neglect most of these water bodies have turned into derelict waters. The number of such derelict ponds, dighis and canals are numerous

Rivers and estuaries are major sources of fish fry which are collected and used for fish culture in closed and semi-enclosed waters. The major carps species e.g., Rui, Catla,  Mrigal etc., occur throughout the larger river systems in Bangladesh where the sexually mature brood fish spawn during monsoon when rivers are in flood. Major spawning grounds of these valuable fish species include:

i. Halda River - the lower reaches of the river from Sattaghat (near Gahira) to

its confluence with the Karnaphuli River.

ii. Arial Khan River - the region near Madaripur.

iii. Garai River - near the general area of Kushtia.

iv. Ganges River - the area west of Rajshahi and estward in areas near Lalpur.

v. Jamuna River - the regions adjacent to Sirajganj and near Fulchharighat.

vi. Old Brahmaputra River - the region north of Mymensingh.

Table: Types of inland waters having fish production potential

2.2. Marine Fisheries

In addition to the above inland waters, the Republic has an extensive shelf area of which 37000 km (square kilometres) is no deeper that 50m (metres). The enire shelf  (down to 200m) covers an area of 67,000 km. According to West, Bangladesh continental shelf covers an area of 27,000 mi (square miles) or 69,900 km. Beyond this continental shelf is the deep sea. The segment of marine water extending from the coast line into the sea upto the limit of 12 miles (19km) constitutes the territorial water of Bangladesh. The Republic reserves the exclusive right for exploitation of fisheries from this territorial water mass measuring approximately 1 million hectares. The declared economic zone extends 200 miles (320 km) out to the sea from the coast line. There are many indications that the continental-shelf waters of Bangladesh are rich in fish, shellfish and other biological resources potential of the Bay of Bengal.

Table  - Important commercial marine fish and shrimp species in the upper Bay of Bengal

 3.      Production:

The country has huge opportunities for the development of brackish water aquaculture boosting shrimp production and earning substantial amount of foreign currencies. Production of shrimp from culture and capture fisheries increased to a great extent in the beginning of 1980's. Since then, brackish water shrimp farming has been expanded to over 2.14 lakh ha of land by 2011 from 1.4 lakh ha in 1980. It is expected that with the introduction of improved scientific method of shrimp culture, the present production of shrimp will be increased substantially. The country has limited access to marine fisheries resources in the Bay of Bengal. Only demarsal fish and shrimp are being trapped from here. Other potential marine resources are yet to be exploited on commercial scale. Only 18% of total fish production comes from Marine capture fisheries and 82% from inland fisheries.

The present democratic government has undertaken new policy for sustainable aquaculture production; provide need based aquaculture extension services, implements fish conservation activities which increase the national fisheries production as well as the growth rate in fisheries sector. Besides these, fisheries extension and conservation activities, AIGs and rehabilitation programs for poor fishers etc. were undertaken. Through the Execution of Fisheries Friendly Policy of the present government, total fish production has been increased from 27.00 lakh metric ton in 2008-09 to 30.62 lakh metric ton in 2010-11.