Speakers, including public officials, at a workshop on Tuesday emphasised the need for coordinated efforts of all relevant authorities to map and use marine resources.
The speakers emphasised the need for policies on web-based and on-ground data collection and protection for the
Marine Spatial Plan, which aims at promoting the sustainable management and use of marine resources by integrating various sectors.
The fisheries department organised the workshop 鈥業nter-Ministry Validation Workshop on Marine Spatial Plan Web-GIS Platform.鈥�
Farida Akhter, the fisheries and livestock adviser to the interim government, who attended as chief guest, said that the extent of marine resources was yet to be fully mapped.
She further said that Bangladesh is a data-poor country despite having resources. As the extent of the resources was unknown, it is difficult to make proper plans or ensure coordination among interrelated agencies.
She also stressed the need for an authority to preserve all data on a common platform.
The fisheries and livestock secretary, Abu Tahir Muhammed Zaber, who attended as a special guest, said that a governing body was required to manage and extract marine resources through specific marine spatial plans.
Participants from public agencies emphasised the conservation of coral and mangroves as vital habitats, especially for migratory species, along with proper plans to minimise inter-ministerial conflicts by establishing a research station and engaging resource users in the plan.
Sustainable Coastal and Marine Fisheries Project deputy director Mohammed Shariful Azam, who rolled out a road map to marine spatial planning, emphasised the readiness of all potential sectors, with a focus on effort integration, the need for extensive data collection to assess sea-space conditions and geo-referenced data for the proper zoning of activities and formation of a national coordination authority.
The fisheries department director general, Md Abdur Rouf, conducted the workshop.
The Marine Spatial Plan aims at developing a comprehensive framework aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and the blue economy by integrating sectoral needs, promoting inclusive stakeholder engagement and implementing a web-GIS system for spatial data management.
