From the ancient period of time, strongest nations were highly dependent on their navy and ship cause they considered sea or ocean as the most powerful place. Most Alfred Thayar Mahan’s Sea Power theory, the world understood the importance of sea.
But this essay will be critically analysed why Bangladesh cannot utilize its maritime domain as much it should have done before. Despite having almost 1,18,813 sq. km maritime territory, Bangladesh has failed to achieve the utmost success from the Bay of Bengal.
Bangladesh is a developing country with a large population in a small area. About 178 million people live here in a highly densely populated area. It is almost impossible to provide a good eco system to everyone where food, cloths, shelter, education and healthcare can be provided cause government cannot practically ensure these rights for a huge population.
That means there is a scarcity in resources to distribute in land but there are a huge opportunity in our maritime domain where Bangladesh can make a great chance to fulfill the needs. The sovereign territory that Bay of Bengal holds also known as Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ).
Bangladesh’s maritime boundaries were contested until ITLOS settled the Myanmar dispute in 2012, and a UNCLOS Annex VII tribunal resolved the India dispute in 2014. In this jurisdiction about 200 nautical miles, Bangladesh can explore the sea as per their rules and regulation.
They can extract the energy sources like oil, petroleum, minerals, fishes, tourism etc. But due to having limitations in mindset, lack of public-private cooperation, corruption and less innovation in technological arena made the golden opportunities hard for Bangladesh.Â
Bangladeshi people only visit the sea in their vacation but they do not know that Bangladesh earned estimated 6.2 billion Dollar in 2015 through the Bay of Bengal which was 3% of its GDP.
It was also said by World Bank Report that Bangladesh can earn 14-15 billion US Dollar per year if they can effectively use the maritime territory. That clearly indicates that we have the latent potentiality in maritime economic growth but we can not break our obstacles due to having less plans about the sea.
There is a clear government and private sector coordination gap to explore the sea. Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Coast Guard, BIMRAD like think tank or Ministries can provide the support of security, policy and paper issues but private companies and business investors should come forward and take the initiative to make business in the sea. The world has seen United Arab Emirates like country who ruled over sea and became one of the largest economic hub centers of the world. It is not only government’s responsibility but also the responsibility of private sectors also to lift the opportunities from the sea.
In the era of globalization and climate change, one country should enrich the technological capabilities. Global warming and climate change make the situation of the sea dangerous due to sea level rising, cyclone, tsunami and earthquake.
So, a country should take measure to overcome the obstacles by using advanced technologies, modernized ship and developed radar. Bangladesh has less amount of advanced vehicle which is not sufficient.
There are only 1 deep sea survey vehicle, (BNS Anushandhan), 2 Offshore survey vessels, 2 coastal survey crafts and 2 specialized survey boats in our country. These data denote that how vulnerable Bangladesh is. These are not efficient enough to protect Bangladesh’s maritime domain.
IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) fishing causes a huge negative effect of the income of fishermen in Bangladesh. According to 2023-24 report of Bangladesh, fishermen collected 629,000 tonnes of fish where it was 709,000 tonnes in 2021-22 fiscal year.
So there is a huge gap that the study can sea due to IUU fishing of other countries. Bangladesh is unable to protect the fisheries sector of Bay of Bengal which actually causes a great harm to national economy.
Due to having less amount of vehicle, developed mechanism, modern nets and capable skilled persons in the sea, Bangladesh can not get the profit based economy from maritime domain like it should have taken.
In this paper, we have already discussed some issues where our country lagged behind still our country is moving forward with its limited resources. It is not possible to make a strong maritime domain overnight but regular practice can do.
Co-operation and Data sharing in sea are the most important issues in the world. Maritime Expert Dr. Lailufar Yasmin once said that, “In the sea, everyone is alone whether it is a rich country or poor.” It denotes that every country needs help to grow up their economy and security through the cooperation.
I think, Bangladesh can play an exceptionally positive role by integrating the idea of BIMSTEC and other bilateral cooperation in the sea through Indo-Pacific strategy in order to make a strong alliance in the sea. Bay of Bengal is the greatest gift to Bangladesh by Almighty. People of this country should collectively think more about it to protect the maritime interest.
