Don’t clear mangrove forests for shrimp farms: fisheries adviser

Fisheries and Livestock Adviser Farida Akhter has urged stakeholders to halt the clearing of mangrove forests to make way for shrimp farms, warning that the destruction of these vital ecosystems would undermine coastal protection.

"Mangrove forests are indispensable for safeguarding the coastal environment," she said while speaking as the chief guest at a policy dialogue today.

The Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA) and the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) jointly organised the event at the InterContinental Dhaka.

Farida said allegations such as the use of jelly in shrimp have damaged Bangladesh's image abroad and reduced exports, causing "significant losses" to the economy.

She underscored the importance of accurate, field-level data, stating that effective policies cannot be designed without understanding the realities on the ground.

Expressing alarm over the sharp decline in marine fish stocks, she said illegal, unregulated and excessive fishing has slashed fish reserves in the Bay of Bengal by 78 percent in the past seven years.

"This is extremely worrying," she added, noting that climate change and pollution are compounding the crisis.

She said the government has been working for a year to address electricity tariff disparities and expects a 20 percent reduction in power tariffs "very soon."

To boost investment and reduce borrowing costs, she said a proposal has been submitted to the Bangladesh Bank to establish a specialised fisheries and livestock bank.

The adviser also called for recognising fisheries and livestock as a fully-fledged, standalone sector instead of treating them as a sub-sector.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur, speaking as a special guest, said financing alone will not solve the sector's challenges.

"Low productivity is the major problem," he said, urging genuine entrepreneurs to step up.

"While competitor countries have advanced in the international market by cultivating vannamei shrimp, we have yet to begin farming it here — and we must identify who is responsible for this."

"Due to such negligence, our foreign earnings from this sector have fallen to $300 million," he said.

Speakers noted that despite being a top export earner in the 1990s, the shrimp industry has lagged behind regional competitors.

BFFEA President Md Shahjahan Chowdhury chaired the event.