Although quite a few years have passed since the settlement of maritime disputes with Myanmar and India, there is nothing in sight to suggest any mentionable work programme to explore the vast resources of the ocean-blue economy as it is fondly dubbed. Clearly, what the international court’s verdict implied was a horizon waiting to be explored and exploited under sound policies to be followed by appropriate actions. There were talks in well-informed quarters suggesting the high importance of ‘unlocking the blue economy potentials’.
This has not happened. Up until now, there has not been any mentionable move forward except for a small ‘cell’ set up under the Energy Division of the government. The cell — Blue Economy Cell (BEC) — was set up on a temporary basis under the Energy Division, according to reports. The BEC remains a small organ headed by a director general with only a few officials and employees appointed on a temporary basis.
Terming it a frustrating situation, energy experts have said that this is because of the government’s lack of interest in exploration of resources including oil, gas and fish in the bay. They stressed the need for multi-client seismic survey in offshore areas. Without acquiring seismic data, according to them, it is impossible to make any assessment of our share of the resources in the Bay of Bengal.
It may be recalled that Bangladesh got 19,467 square kilometres out of the 25,602 sq km disputed area from Indian claimed area in the Bay of Bengal. In addition, the country sustained a claim to 200 nautical miles for exclusive economic zone and territorial rights in the Bay against Myanmar’s claim. But things have not moved farther in terms of preparations. Needless to say that the subject demanding high level of expertise should have been left to experts to suggest how to go about it. The government reportedly had formed a 25-member ‘Coordination Committee on Sea Resources Exploration and Fair Management’ years ago for taking up strategic planning in this regard. The committee, comprising top government officials and representatives from relevant organisations, was supposed to sit every three months, but it is not known whether it formulated any framework for strategies. On the other hand, the BEC too could not make any worthwhile move due mainly to manpower constraints.
There were talks of setting up a blue economy authority to deal with the massive development activities required in this regard in a planned way. Experts opine that moving ahead methodically and meaningfully could generate businesses worth $40 billion in the coming days from untapped sea resources. Globally, according to experts, blue economy has resources worth $24 trillion, but so far only around $3.0 trillion worth of resources has been utilised.
Ocean economy is an integral part of today’s development paradigm, emphasising greener and more sustainable and inclusive economic development paths consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially Goal 14 (conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources for unhindered development).
The need for an authority highly empowered for methodical exploration of the sea resources cannot be over emphasised. Experts strongly support the idea because besides putting in place a general framework of activities including implementation and monitoring, a high level body such as the blue economy authority is the appropriate agency to specifically outline proper business modules for investors in a planned way. Many sectors of the economy can immensely benefit from the marine resources. These include — fisheries, mineral resources, pharmaceuticals, transportation, energy, foods, health and tourism etc. According to experts, the country’s expanded sea area is almost 81 per cent of the entire mainland. The country has a total of 660 km-long sea boundary, but the fishing vessels cannot catch fish beyond 70 km. It means we’ve no access in almost 600 km. That’s why fishing vessels from India and Myanmar often come to catch fishes from our territory. Not only that, our fishing net cannot go below 200 feet of water, whereas the high-valued fishes like Tuna and Swordfish are available in deeper water.
In this connection, it may not be out of place to mention that the UNCTAD has come up with some proactive moves to facilitate countries in need of financial and technical resources to seek assistance under what is called OETS (ocean economy and trade strategy) project. The OETS project aims to support developing countries in realising economic benefits from the sustainable use of marine resources. It will assist coastal and developing countries in promoting sustainable trade in products and services in ocean-based economic sectors by analysing, elaborating and adopting evidence-based and policy-coherent ocean economy and trade strategies and contribute to building national capacities to implement them. Some countries have already expressed interest to be part of the project. Bangladesh may also like to examine the scope and the likely benefits of the UNCTAD project.