Last year, the Bangladesh coast guard arrested over 500 Indian fishers and seized 32 boats off the coast in Patuakhali – more than 125 km inside the Bangladesh EEZ. This was during the 65-day ban on marine fishing, which kept Bangladeshi fishers stuck on land. The Indian fishers were sent back but not all are so lucky.
Statistics from the Bangladesh coast guard show that in recent years more than a thousand Indian fishers have been held and spent months in jail before release. It is difficult to find the numbers of Bangladeshi fishers jailed in other countries. When Bangladeshi fishers are arrested in Myanmar, it can take years before they return home.
Ignoring international law
By jailing fishers countries are not following norms set down by international law, experts say. Yugraj Singh Yadava, director of intergovernmental organisation the Bay of Bengal Programme, says that the international law of the sea clearly directs countries not to jail or deliver other corporal punishment to foreign fishers arrested in EEZs. Headquartered in Chennai, the body is pushing for closer regional cooperation over sustainable fisheries among the Bay of Bengal countries.
Article 73 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) says: “arrested vessels and their crews shall be promptly released upon the posting of a reasonable bond or other security.” The law and subsequent international agreements also have provisions for bilateral agreements, information sharing and other sorts of collaboration to avoid the suffering of fishers and protect fish that travel across national maritime boundaries. Yadava said: “International laws provide enough guidance to States to deal with the issue. However, none of the countries in the region are doing so.”
Mohammed Latifur Rahman, director of Bangladesh’s marine fisheries office, agrees. There is no effective collaboration among countries except a few opportunities for dialogues, he said. He hoped that India, which has the longest coastline along the Bay of Bengal, could help neighbours conduct collaborative explorations and studies on joint fish stocks. “We need processes and mechanisms for data sharing and a functional platform to cooperate in marine fisheries management,” he said.
Back in 2012, a study commissioned by the UN FAO’s Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem project made several recommendations to deal with the arrest and repatriations of fishers, including joint patrols.
The Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Project is the only internationally funded initiative to facilitate transboundary collaboration for marine fisheries and environmental issues. But more than a decade after its launch, very few of the recommendations have been accepted by the respective governments.
In the long run, countries will need bilateral or multilateral agreements for the repatriation of fishers. The roles of employers, vessel owners, and governments need to be clarified. Countries also need to regularly inform artisanal fishers of the issues involved.
Fish don’t do borders
Many fish populations regularly move between EEZs of two or more countries to feed or spawn. Yadava explained that a few fish species like the Indian mackerel and the threadfin bream are distributed along the entire bay. Some other species like Hilsa and the Bombay duck are primarily found in specific areas. Smaller pelagic fish, such as anchovies, herring and Hilsa, migrate through the coastal waters of two or more countries. Some small open ocean fish, like the rainbow sardine, are found along the coastlines of all Bay of Bengal countries.
Without harmonised policy by all the countries in the region, conservation by one country alone may have limited benefits
Even bottom-dwelling species such as lobsters, sea cucumbers and reef fish disperse across boundaries during larval stages. For example, lobsters may travel thousands of kilometres from their place of birth to the site of an adult settlement. “Harvesting activities of one country significantly affect the harvesting opportunities of other countries sharing the [same] resource,” Yadava said.
“No studies have been conducted yet to identify fish stocks straddling across multiple EEZs,” said Mohammad Sharif Uddin, principal scientific officer of Bangladesh’s Marine Fisheries Survey Management Unit. “During the last joint working group meeting with India there was no progress on fisheries.”
Threatened marine animals
There may be some hope of this changing. Six Bay of Bengal countries have now joined the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement. The most recent entrant was Thailand, which ratified the agreement in 2017. Myanmar and Malaysia have still not joined yet. The agreement is about implementing UNCLOS provisions relating to the conservation and management of straddling and migratory fish stocks.
A significant challenge of managing fisheries is reducing bycatch and conserving highly threatened marine species. Badhon explained that species of sharks, rays and sawfish migrate across large swathes of sea. Migratory species such as whale sharks, hammerhead sharks and sea turtles often get caught in fishing gear along with commercially important fish.
Steps taken by one country to protect migratory species won’t have the desired results unless other countries in the region follow suit, Yadava explained.
“Some of the countries protect these animals, but the scale of operation is not uniform. Without harmonised policy by all the countries in the region, conservation by one country alone may have limited benefits,” Yadava said.
For example, the dugong inhabits the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar, another transboundary area shared by India and Sri Lanka. The two countries are yet to agree on suitable strategies to protect this iconic species from threats from fishing operations.
Yadava added that active collaboration and joint management is essential if the fisheries of the Bay of Bengal are to be sustained. The countries are – in principle – not opposed, but as they drag their feet both the fish and fishers in the Bay of Bengal continue to suffer.
This story was originally published by our sister site The Third Pole.
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