Blue economy can lead the country’ financial sector by exploring its potential and helping to recover the losses caused by Covid-19 quickly, experts said on Thursday.
“The Bay of Bengal will be source of the development and economic growths in the region for centuries, contributing more to boost the country’s economy,” an export said.
They came up with these remarks while speaking at a webinar on the topic of: "Blue Economy in the post Covid-19 Era: Resilience Strategies for the Coastal States" organized by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University (BSMRMU) on Thursday.
Dr AK Abdul Momen, Minister of Foreign Affairs, attended the program as a chief guest while Barrister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury, Deputy Minister of Education, was a special guest.
Rear Admiral M Khaled Iqbal, Vice Chancellor of BSMRMU, Rear Admiral (Retd) Muhammad Anwarul Islam, Adjunct Faculty of BSMRMU, Rear Admiral (Retd) Peter Gumataotao, Director of Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS), Rear Admiral (Retd) Md Khurshed Alam, Secretary of Maritime Affairs Unit of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Farooq Sobhan, Distinguished Fellow and Board Member of Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, Dr Bonnie Irwin, Chancellor of University of Hawaii at Hilo, Professor Imtiaz Ahmed, Executive Director of Regional Centre For Strategic Studies, Prof J Scott Hauger, DKI APCSS and Prof Shawon Rahman, University of Hawaii at Hilo also spoke on the occasion.
The experts said the blue economy covers all economic activities related to seas and coasts including shipping and ports, fisheries and aquaculture as well as coastal tourism.
It provided a maritime transportation system that facilitated the efficient movement of goods and commodities, supporting cluster of industries such as manufacturing, shipbuilding, agribusiness, commercial fishing and energy exploration, they added.
Md Khurshed Alam said Bangladesh has 1, 18,813 square kilometers of maritime area and more than 30 million people directly depend on oceanic economic activities like fisheries and commercial transportation.
“But still the country is lagging behind in exploiting its blue economy potential due to lack of technology and efficient manpower. So, the country has not been able to harness the full potential of its resources, he mentioned.
He said, “We do not have many big ships to catch fish in the deep sea. Our fishermen are fishing near the coast in small boats or trawlers. This is not the right approach.”
“We need many big ships to catch most valuable fishes like Tuna fish, which will help to boost our export earnings”, he said adding that, “If we can use potential of blue economy, we can add 1.5 percent of GDP for the country.”
Dr AK Abdul Momen said in the past several year, Bangladesh has witnessed a massive infrastructural and economic development.
The government has implemented many mega projects which help to maintain sustainable economic growth, he mentioned.
“In the blue economy centers like ports and shipping, Mari and aquaculture, ship building and ship recycling, hydro carbon to marine biotechnology, coastal tourism and Mari education, all the potential of Maritime sectors were bring developed in order to ensure proper utilization of our maritime resources,” Momen added.
Dr AK Abdul Momen said, “In the last several years, we have witnessed massive infrastructural developments and innumerable mega projects while maintaining steady economic growth, drawing admiration from all around the world.”
In the blue economy sectors like ports & shipping to marine aquaculture, ship-building to ship recycling, hydrocarbon to marine bio-technology, maritime tourism to maritime education, in fact all the potential maritime sectors were being developed, nurtured and rejuvenated in order to ensure proper utilisation of our maritime resources, he mentioned.
At the same time, adequate implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG-2030) and Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 related to the management of Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta and climate change resilience will stand our country in good stead for the future generations, he added.
However, the recent onslaught of pandemic Coronavirus has cast a shadow of pale and frustration in the progress of global civilization and predicts an uncertain economic gloom and downturn in the global trade and commerce, he mentioned.
“As such it is high time that we try to ascertain the possible impact of the pandemic on this very important sector of blue economy and find ways to bounce back for the overall economic recovery”, he added.
“I can confidently mention that amidst the gloomy days of pandemic with initial interruption of global supply chain, our government has taken successful measures for containing the virus on one hand and gradually opening the country’s economic lifeline on the other,” he said.
We should also keep in mind that our ocean could also be one of the resource frontiers in the recovery process from pandemic, he said adding that, “Therefore, maximum utilization of Blue Economy is the key in our strides to overcome the adverse effects of pandemic.”
Dr Richard R Vuylysteke, President of East-west centre of Hawaii, said a country needs to take a proper strategy to get benefit from blue economy.
“Costal countries like Bangladesh should formulate blue economy strategy to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth,” he added.
The country needs to include sewerages line for cultivations, to protect seas and other maritime resources, he mentioned.
“Bangladesh is one of the vulnerable countries of the world especially for tropical cyclone and storms, that is why, it needs to protect the coastal area to get more benefits,” he said.
If the country manages the challenges of coastal areas, it will get huge benefit from blue economy, he mentioned.
The government, business people, stakeholders, NGOs and foreign development partners need to have combined efforts to develop blue economy, he said.
