Bangladesh overfishing: Almost all species pushed to brink

Overfishing off the shoreline of Bangladesh is certainly creating a "fishless" zone in another of the world's largest sea ecosystems, scientists are warning. Most seafood species are in decrease, with some nearing extinction, a written report on fish securities in the Bay of Bengal states. "Some seas in the world, like the Gulf of Thailand, own run out of seafood," one of the authors in the survey, Sayedur Rahman Chowdhury, advised BBC Bengali.  "We don't desire our Bay of Bengal to end up like this." Hundreds of large vessels are overfishing at an unsustainable amount, monitors suggest. Native fishermen say the government is switching a blind eyes because the trawlers target key fish varieties they rely on. Bangladesh is among the most densely-populated countries on Earth, with its population crammed right into a delta of rivers that empty into the Bay of Bengal. At least 1.5m persons in the country are influenced by fishing for his or her livelihoods and fish remains the most important source of animal protein for the population overall.   But a three-year record commissioned because of the nationwide federal government presents the largest & most priceless varieties, like tiger prawns and Indian salmon, are completely gone almost.  Jasim is really a fisherman who's exercised in the port of Chittagong for 35 years. He claims until a few years ago he simply needed to sail for a couple of hours to catch fish however now he and his acquaintances travel for up to 20 time before they get anything. "There are many species of seafood we utilized to catch before but we can not find currently," Jasim says. He and another artisanal, or small-scale, fishermen blame the scarcity on the current presence of large trawlers inside the bay.  You can find about 270 trawlers from the seacoast of Bangladesh, the biggest of which can catch around 400 tonnes of fish each trip, 20 times the amount of the largest artisanal vessel. "We are truly worried that when the fishing energy is not significantly reduced, we might reduce this reference for generations ahead," Mr Chowdhury states. The fees the government gets from trawler licences certainly are a small fraction with the profit created by the couple of companies which own the professional fleet.  These businesses sell and deal angling licences that were issued by the federal government yrs earlier, making it difficult for the office of fisheries to control the amount of vessels working.  New legislation that will give the division the energy to cancel previous licences happens to be making its approach through parliament. But enforcement officers from the department are often taken up to court by providers over their efforts to enforce prevailing regulation and risk being held in my opinion liable should they lose.  A mature official in the Naval Trade Office,
Captain Mohammad Giasuddin Ahmed, mentioned no new licenses ought to be granted to trawlers until there's concrete information about companies.  "If this carries on then our sportfishing ground will become fishless,'' he says. With fish increasingly scarce, trawlers have started targeting hilsa, a species crucial to the livelihoods of artisanal fishermen and the meals security and safety of Bangladesh. The hilsa, a kind of herring and Bangladesh's nationwide fish, is the only species demonstrating some signs of recovery.  For several years now, the government has got executed a 22-time total annual ban on hilsa angling that takes impact every Oct.  The seasonal ban allows the hilsa time and energy to migrate through the bay into river estuaries to spawn. As reimbursement, the federal government provides artisanal fishermen a subsidy of all over 44 lbs of rice per household not to seafood.  But several declare they battle to nourish their families and confront economic spoil in this right period.  When the government announced in-may this past year that it had been adding a further 65-day ban for several fishing activity minus the advantage of subsidies, hundreds of fishermen took to the streets to protest.  The bans include helped hilsa stocks retrieve but artisanal anglers aren't the people reaping the incentives, according to Mr Chowdhury. "Although hilsa conservation impacts millions of weak fishers, a big proportion of the power is going towards the industrial trawl operators who are finding and catching a large number of tonnes of hilsa without giving much social benefit or earnings to the federal government," he states. The hilsa healing has also started appealing to "'super-trawlers" from abroad that are built in with devices to trail and focus on the hilsa colleges.  Super trawlers contain the capacity of prevailing industrial vessels double. Their size and engine power makes them quick enough to catch the fast-moving hilsa and they are fitted with sonar equipment to greatly help them locate the shoals.  Year Four of these massive vessels arrived in Chittagong from overseas last.  Bangladeshi operators bought the four super trawlers moored within the port and claim they will have rights to utilize them to fish.  Two of the four vessels, Sea View and Sea Wind, originally of Thai origin, happen to be at the mercy of an Interpol notification for illegally fishing in Somalia.  International monitoring organisations OceanMind plus the International Justice Mission (IJM) have already been following a super trawlers since 2018 and confirmed, using satellite imagery, the current presence of both vessels in Chittagong port.  Under foreign legislation Bangladesh must inform the government of Somalia concerning the presence of Sea View and Sea Breeze in its waters.  When inquired about the blacklisted vessels, Capt Giasuddin Ahmed explained: "We have been not aware of the presence of Sea View and Sea Wind vessels. "They very first entered Bangladesh with all the excuse of maintenance work, but they were expelled soon after." The BBC approached the Bangladeshi government for comment and was told the fisheries department was closed because of the coronavirus outbreak plus the minister was struggling to respond. But Mr Chowdhury can be worried about the affect the excellent trawlers may have on fish stocks and shares and the continuing future of fisheries control in Bangladesh.  "These very trawlers are a threat to marine information,'' he claims.  "If such unlawful vessels can go into Bangladeshi waters and get registered without any obstacles, then it could be recommended that Bangladesh has turned into a safe haven for blacklisted vessels."

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