It is encouraging to note that the government has taken an initiative to set up a full-fledged marine research institute in Cox's Bazar aimed at using nearly 1,18,813 sq kms of maritime area for boosting blue economy. Reportedly, the purpose of the new project is to harness the potential of blue economy by reinforcing country’s maritime research and surveys.
Bangladesh is geographically blessed as the country is located on the Bay of Bengal. Bay of Bengal has long been contributing to Bangladesh’s economic growth and can serve us with a plenty of resources that can help the country ensure food security, eradicate poverty boost economic growth and generate sustainable as well as inclusive employments. In this regard, Bangladesh needs to leverage conservation and utilisation of marine and coastal eco-systems in an efficient manner. Needless to say, safe and environmentally sustainable extraction of sea resources will make a remarkable contribution to the wellbeing of our future generation.
The government should embark on
a plan to involve private sector in
its coastal development and management plan
It needs no emphasising that we can make our economy more vibrant utilising the marine resources properly and the incumbent government is taking various measures to this end. The government has framed new strategies to harness the potential of blue economy addressing how and in what way the ocean-based industries such as shipping, fisheries, energy and minerals, seaports, tourism, and marine biotechnology can contribute to the country’s economic growth.
Bangladesh reportedly has 1, 18,813 square kilometres of maritime area and more than 30 million people directly depend on oceanic economic activities like fisheries and commercial transportation. However, Bangladesh has not been able to conduct adequate survey to learn and identify maritime resources. Hitherto we are lagging behind in exploiting our blue economy potential due to lack of technology and efficient manpower.
There is an abundance of resources under the ocean that need to be tapped prudently. We must nurture what we have and in order to do that we need to learn and identify the amount of resources available in the sea. To this end, integrating new technology and conducting adequate and quality research has become very much pertinent. Private sector can play an important role in improving country’s maritime research and surveys. Hence, the government should embark on a plan to involve private sector in its coastal development and management plan.