The government will soon introduce vessel monitoring system (VMS) to monitor registered fishing trawlers’ movement in the sea. The initiative was undertaken to protect the country’s fisheries resources, Sayedul Haque, Fisheries and Livestock minister, told the parliament, responding to a query on Tuesday. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, a VMS system is a programme of fisheries surveillance, in which equipment that is installed on fishing vessels provides information about the vessels’ position and activity. Currently, the government cannot monitor how far out or which areas the trawlers are plying in the sea. To increase our capacity in this regard, with the assistance of the Malaysian government, the VMS system has been launched, Sayedul Haque says. He added: Through this, it would be possible for us to stay on land to monitor the location of the registered ships and where they are fishing. It will put a big impact on protecting our fisheries resources. The minister also said since October 2014 to present day, 62 foreign trawlers were captured for illegal infiltration in Bangladesh’s water territory.
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