Fishing industry in Bangladesh
Bangladesh being a first line littoral state of the Indian Ocean has a very good source of marine resources in the Bay of Bengal. The country has an exclusive economic zone of 41,000 square miles (110,000 km2), which is 73% of the country's land area. On the other hand, Bangladesh is a small and developing country overloaded with almost unbearable pressure of human population. In the past, people of Bangladesh were mostly dependent upon land-based proteins. But, the continuous process of industrialisation and urbanisation consumes the limited land area. Now there is no other way than to harvest the vast under water protein from the Bay of Bengal, which can meet the country's demand.
Fish provides about 60 percent of the animal protein in the Bangladeshi diet.[1][2] According to the Bangladesh Department of Fisheries, aquaculture contributed about 2.53 percent of the country's national GDP and roughly 22 percent of its agricultural GDP in the 2023–24 fiscal year.[3][2] Total fish production reached about 5.02 million tonnes that year, of which aquaculture supplied roughly 59 percent (about 2.98 million tonnes) and the remainder came from inland capture and marine fisheries.[4]
Shrimp farming
[edit]As of the end of 1987, prevailing methods for culturing shrimp in Bangladesh were still relatively unsophisticated, and average yields per hectare were low.[1] In the late 1980s, almost all inland shrimping was done by capture rather than by intensive aquaculture.[1] Farmers relied primarily on wild postlarval and juvenile shrimp as their sources of stock, acquired either by trapping in ponds during tidal water exchange or by gathering from local estuaries and stocking directly in the ponds.[1] Despite the seemingly low level of technology applied to shrimp aquaculture, it became an increasingly important part of the frozen seafood industry in the mid-1980s.[1] The shrimp farming industry in Bangladesh has been handicapped by low-quality and low prices.[citation needed]
The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank financed projects to develop shrimp aquaculture in the 1980s.[1] Much of the emphasis was on construction of modern hatcheries.[1] Private investors were also initiating similar projects to increase capacity and to introduce modern technology that would increase average yields.[1] The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has provided assistance to the shrimp and fishing industry in meeting fish safety and quality control standards based on the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) approach.[5]
Shrimp in the wild are associated with mangroves. Mangrove estuaries such as those found in the Sundarbans of southwestern Bangladesh are especially rich productive ecosystems and provide the spawning grounds for shrimp and fish.[6] Intensive shrimp farming often involves conversion of mangrove stands to brine ponds where shrimp are grown.[7]
Training and education
[edit]Training for the fishing industry of Bangladesh, as well as for merchant shipping and related maritime industries is provided by the Bangladesh Marine Fisheries Academy.
Labor practices
[edit]Shrimp and dried fish are emblematic of Bangladeshi cuisine. However, according to a 2014 Bureau of International Labor Affairs report,[8] they also rank among the goods that are produced by child labour and forced labour in Bangladesh. The US Department of Labor also reported that "some children work under forced labor conditions in the dried fishing sector to help their families pay off debts to local moneylenders".[9] The government of Bangladesh recognises that "some of the worst forms of child labor may exist in the rural sector (e.g. fish drying) and has been working with the ILO and other donors to craft an appropriate development program response."[citation needed]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Heitzman, James; Worden, Robert L, eds. (1989). "Fisheries". Bangladesh: a country study. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. pp. 128–129. OCLC 49223313.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. - 1 2 "In Bangladesh, fish farming makes quiet gains". The Daily Star. 12 September 2025. Retrieved 9 July 2026 – via eFeedLink.
- ↑ Yearbook of Fisheries Statistics of Bangladesh 2023-24 (Report). Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Government of Bangladesh. 2025.
- ↑ "Aquaculture in Bangladesh: Key Updates from the Fisheries Yearbook 2023-24". LightCastle Partners. 8 September 2025. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
- ↑ Cato, James C.; Subasinge, S. (September 2003). Unnevehr, Laurian J. (ed.). "Case Study: The Shrimp Export Industry in Bangladesh" (PDF). Food Safety in Food Security and Food Trade. 2020 Vision Focus. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
- ↑ de la Torre, Isabel; Batker, D.K. (1999). "Prawn to Trade, Prawn to Consume" (PDF). International Shrimp Action Network. pp. 9–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 November 2005. Retrieved 20 August 2007.
- ↑ Harrison, Paul; Pearce, Fred (2000). "Mangroves and estuaries" (PDF). AAAS Atlas of Population and Environment. American Association for the Advancement of Science and University of California Press. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-520-23081-1.
- ↑ "List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor". United States Department of Labor. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
- ↑ "Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor – Bangladesh" (PDF). United States Department of Labor. 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016.
