'Action plan needed to preserve marine fisheries resources'

The foreign exchange earnings from marine fisheries sector could be increased significantly and poverty level of huge coastal population could be minimised to a large extent through conservation and sustainable utilisation of fisheries and aquaculture resources, they said.

The day-long seminar on 'Marine fisheries resources management' was organised by the Department of Fisheries in Chittagong on the occasion of 'Fisheries Fortnight-2003'.

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Food Minister Abdullah Al Noman spoke at the inaugural session as chief guest while Secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock Mohammad Abdul Haque was the special guest.

In the technical session, a group of experts took part in the discussion on the paper titled "Community participation in marine artisanal fisheries management" which was jointly prepared by Dr Moslehuddin Ahmed, Ashoke Kumar Das and others working with the project "Empowerment of Coastal Fishing Communities for Livelihood Security" (ECFC).

Addressing the seminar, Food Minister Abdullah Al Noman said, "Mere export of industrial products will not help achieve a self-reliant economy if we fail to raise the volume of exports of agriculture and marine products which have huge potentials."

He urged the officials and experts to create awareness among the poor fishermen by involving them in the total fisheries resources management and conservation plan.

He also suggested providing financial support to the fishermen to prevent them from catching fish fries and shrimp larvae which have caused massive destruction of marine fish resources.