In the last financial year, the total production of fish in the country was 45 lakh 3 thousand metric tons. Bangladesh’s success in fish production has also received international recognition. Bangladesh is the third largest fish producer in the world, the fifth largest producer of freshwater fish in the world, the first producer of hilsa and the fourth largest producer of tilapia.
Fisheries and Livestock Minister Sham Rezaul Karim said this at a press briefing at the conference room of the Fisheries Department at Matsya Bhaban in the capital on Saturday on the occasion of National Fisheries Week 2021.
Speakers at the event said that according to the 2020 report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the growth rate of global farmed fish production has slowed down. But in the last one decade, Bangladesh has maintained the growth of fish production at 9.1 percent. So that Bangladesh is in the second position among the fish producing countries of the world.
It was informed on the occasion that the National Fisheries Week will be celebrated from 26th August to 3rd September with the theme ‘Let’s cultivate more fish and eliminate unemployment’. Tomorrow, Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury will join as the chief guest to inaugurate the National Fisheries Week and release fish fry at Sangsad Lake. The President will release fish fry in Bangabhaban pond on August 31.
Fisheries and Livestock Minister Sham Rezaul Karim said, “Due to the steps taken by the government, the size of hilsa has increased in the country, the taste and smell has returned and the quantity has increased. The benefits of stopping the killing of Jatka are now visible in front of us. The fish that were rare to the people of the country have returned. We have brought back 31 endangered species of native fish through artificial insemination in a scientific way and we are spreading it all over the country. The government is also encouraging the fishery sector.
The Minister further said that an international standard laboratory has been set up to test whether fish food contains harmful substances for human body. For fish export, clearance is being given so that the consignment of fish sent abroad does not return to the country. The domestic market is also being monitored regularly. Measures are being taken everywhere against the enemies of fisheries.
Secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock Raunak Mahmud, Additional Secretary Shyamal Chandra Karmakar, Subol Bose Moni and Md. Taufiqul Arif, Director General of the Department of Fisheries Kazi Shams Afroz, Director General of BFRI. Yahya Mahmud, Deputy Director of Fisheries and Livestock Information Department Shefaul Karim, Additional IG of the Naval Police. Atiqul Islam and other senior officials of the ministry and the fisheries department were present at the time.
