The rhetorical blue economy in Bangladesh: Analyzing the inborn regulatory bottlenecks

Md. Mizanur Rahman

doi:10.29103/aa.v8i2.4775

Abstract

This study's overreaching objective was to assess the suitability and applicability of the existing legal and institutional framework for managing the coastal and marine resources in Bangladesh. Together with, the fundamental challenges faced by the artisanal and small-scale fishers in Bangladesh were critically scrutinized. The study revealed that the regulatory framework in Bangladesh is characterized by jurisdictional overlapping followed by the conflict of interests among the public institutes, which originated from the aged and fragmented laws and ambiguous business allocation; consequently, the artisanal and small-scale fishers suffer a lot. The local government and community's right to resource management remains fuzzy. Bangladesh can enact new sectoral laws followed by business reallocation for the line ministries. The study will help policymakers identify the bottlenecks rooted in the existing regulatory and institutional framework.Keywords: Coastal and Marine Resource; Jurisdictional Overlapping; Conflict of Interests; Marine Governance; Artisanal Fishers

Highlights

Bangladesh is located in the north-east corner of the Bay of Bengal and blessed with living and non-living resources (FAO, 2014)
The respondents identified a total number of 19 laws that support marine resource management and sustainability directly or indirectly (Table 2)
The drafted "Bangladesh Maritime Zones Act, 2018" is an amendment of the act mentioned above, approved by the cabinet but not ratified as a bill through the parliamentary process. This draft underlines the determination of the maritime zones and control of criminal activities

Summary

Introduction

Bangladesh is located in the north-east corner of the Bay of Bengal and blessed with living and non-living resources (FAO, 2014). The Bay of Bengal can offer considerable opportunities to resolve the challenges originating from the climate changes in the coastal areas (Giménez et al, 2014) Bangladesh confronts both incremental locals (Rahman et al, 2009) and climatic stressors (Rahman 2020) to protect its natural resources. The proportion of artisanal and small-scale fishers show a declining trend decreasing at an alarming rate due to lack of an integrated and holistic regulatory and institutional framework, which propagate a distorted market chain, climate vulnerabilities, and hegemony of the commercial fishers (Alam et al, 2021). This vulnerable group is becoming “left behind the group" by losing their income. Economic Division; Moedu= Ministry of Education; AFD= Armed Forces Division; MOST= Ministry of Science and Technology; PMO= Prime Minister's Office; BORI=Bangladesh Oceanographic Research Institute; SREDA= Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority; BSMRMU=Bangabandhu Sheikh

Materials and Methods

Primary data collection

The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

Allocation of business at the Policy level

Governance at the implementation level

Recommendations

Reallocation of business

Findings

Policy interventions