Marine Fisheries Harvest Policy, 2022.

This Policy concerns marine fisheries harvest and reflects Bangladesh's efforts to capitalise on its expanded maritime jurisdiction following maritime boundary settlements, while ensuring sustainable exploitation of marine resources. The Policy establishes three overarching goals: increasing marine fish production through compliance with laws, regulations and international obligations; improving conservation and management of marine fishery resources to enhance production sustainably; increasing value addition through processing and post-harvest development. The Policy details the following objectives: 1) marine fishery resources assessment through surveys and research; 2) promoting responsible fishing practices consistent with international, regional and national regulations in order to conserve marine and coastal fisheries while increasing sustainable production; 3) protecting marine ecosystems, biodiversity and ecological balance; 4) registering all marine fishing vessels and determine fishing capacity and appropriate fleet size; 5) ensuring equitable access of fishers to marine resources, protecting their interests and improving their socio-economic conditions; 6) preparing long-term coastal and marine spatial plans; 7) implementing Bangladesh's national Blue Economy agenda; 8) encouraging domestic, foreign and joint investments in marine fisheries harvesting, conservation, marketing and exports; 9) preventing Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing through coordinated action according the Agreement on on Port State Measures; 10) identifying mariculture zones, formulating related policies and encouraging investment.
Targeted actions and measures to implement the goals include: conducting nationwide marine stock assessments; establishing digital fisheries databases; regulating the number of industrial and artisanal vessels; establishing Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and setting quotas where needed; regulating mesh sizes and allowable catches; enforcing seasonal fishing bans and minimising by-catch; supporting small-scale fishers through access to finance and credit schemes; improving fish handling and transport; expanding tuna fisheries in the EEZ and beyond; strengthening monitoring, control and surveillance systems; encouraging public-private partnerships; conducting environmental and biodiversity research; protecting marine biodiversity and sensitive habitats; integration of mariculture into marine spatial planning; promoting the culture of marine fish, shrimp, seaweed and shellfish; improving fish landing centres; implementing national action plans against IUU fishing in order to apply Port State Measures; verification of foreign vessels' licences; encouraging women participation in mariculture enterprises and facilitating women's access to finance; integrating climate considerations into marine spatial planning, in order to strengthen resilience of marine ecosystems and fishing communities against climate change.