Govt to register 65,000 artisanal fishing vessels to control activities

The Marine Fisheries Office of the Department of Fisheries has taken an initiative to bring around 65,000 artisanal fishing vessels under registration to control activities of those while fishing in rivers and sea.

There are allegations that these locally-made wooden vessels, with a capacity of below 15 tonnes each, have long been used in illegal activities like drug dealing, robbery and smuggling, in the guise of fishing.   

Md Zillur Rahman, director (Marine) at the Marine Fisheries Office, Chattogram, told The Business Standard, "We cannot even observe what they [artisanal vessels] are doing. For this, the government has formulated an action plan on unregistered vessels. Initially, licences will be issued to artisanal vessels for a period of three years". 

Once implemented, he said this initiative will help them to know the total number of fishing vessels and also estimate the volume of fish harvest. 

According to data obtained from the Chattogram Marine Fisheries Office, three types of vessels— commercial trawlers, mechanised boats and artisanal boats are engaged in fishing in rivers and sea across 14 coastal districts and 67 upazilas of the country. Currently, there are 3,231 registered commercial trawlers and 28,500 registered mechanical boats in the country.

Due to lack of enrollment, the exact number of artisanal vessels has still remained unknown. However, the number has been estimated at around 65,000, as per the average count of fishermen. 

"Enrolment work on a project on fisheries development is currently in progress. Counting is underway in all the upazilas of the 710km coast line from Teknaf to the western point of the Sundarbans. The duration of the project is two more years. Hopefully, the counting will be completed before this," said Marine Fisheries Office Director Zillur. 

Officials at the Marine Fisheries Office said the small fishing vessels mainly move at 40-metre depth in the sea. Unlike the registered vessels, it has not been possible to take action against the unregistered ones in case of non-compliance with fishing restrictions. Besides, these vessels are also used in drug peddling, robbery and smuggling activities in the name of fishing.