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Bangladesh's sea fish exports will stumble if the country fails to comply with the new European Union regulations designed to protect worldwide marine resources, delegation officials said.
Officials at the Delegation of the European Commission (EC) said that Dhaka should cooperate with Brussels in enforcing the agreement on Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported Fishing (IUUF) if it wanted to sustain its future marine fish shipment to the market of the 27-member regional grouping.
Adopted in October 2008, the IUUF regulation is aimed at sustainable exploitation of marine resources and will be effective from January next year.
The agreement also aims at halting imports of IUUF products into the community by measures covering the whole supply chain-"from the net to the plate".
A commerce ministry official said the head of the EC delegation, Stefan Frowein, last week took up the matter with commerce minister Mohammd Faruk Khan and sought his help in obtaining key information about the country's registration and certification system for deep sea fishing.
The EU remains the country's single largest trading partner, making up as much as 53 per cent of the country's export earnings.
Fisheries constitute the second biggest exporting item after textiles and clothing, with last year's shipment to the regional block amounting to 170 million euros.
But the bulk of fishery products is farmed inland and a paltry fraction is marine fisheries caught in the Bay of Bengal.
"It's an emerging challenge for Bangladesh's trade with the EU," Zillul Hye Razi, trade adviser with the delegation said about the certification system for marine fishing.
While presenting a paper in a seminar recently, Mr Razi identified the IUUF as new challenge and said it would benefit Bangladesh to export its marine fish in future.
Officials said the delegation first sent a letter to the director general at the Department of Shipping in February.
"Two follow-up letters were sent in May and September. Letters were copied to the ministries of fisheries, shipping, commerce and foreign affairs. But none responded to the queries," an official said.
Officials said the delegation's letter just sought information relating to the national arrangement for certification system for deep sea fishing and registration of vessels.
In adopting this regulation, the EU document says the agreement would not only contribute to ensuring the sustainability of fish stocks and improve the situation of Community fishermen exposed to unfair competition from illegal products, but also meet consumers' demand for "sustainable and fair" fishery products.
It will introduce an EU "blacklist" of non-complying vessels, with detailed rules on the drawing up of such a list.
The proposal introduces measures to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems from the destructive effects of bottom fishing activities, in particular by introducing a special fishing permit, relevant monitoring measures and a precautionary protected boundary within the water column.
The proposal is in line with the recommendations issued by the United Nations General Assembly on the pressing need to adopt measures to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems from the destructive effects of bottom fishing activities. |
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