Media: The Independent
Around 66,000 unregistered fishing trawlers are allegedly plying on the waterways across the country. Not only is the government losing a huge amount of revenue, these trawlers are used to carry out all kinds of crimes, making the waterways unsafe. Police said drug smugglers and pirates use these trawlers. But they find it difficult to identify the owners ever if they seize a trawler with drugs on it.
“Waterways have become a major drug smuggling route, as there is stern surveillance on land. Many big consignments of the contraband Yaba were recovered on the waterways. Smugglers have been using unregistered trawlers for some time now,” said Muhammad Rezaul Masud, additional superintendent of police (Special Branch) of Chittagong. “We cannot identify the owners of the fishing trawlers that carry drugs, as they are not registered. Since both the Mercantile Marine Department (MMD) and the Department of Fisheries (DoF) allow unregistered trawlers to ply, the smugglers are choosing the waterways as a safe route,” he said.
The DoF is responsible for giving permission for fishing. The MMD is responsible for giving fitness certificates to fishing trawlers and registering them. “We have asked both departments to register all fishing trawlers,” he added.
“Moreover, we are not involved in the registration process. We don’t have any database of the fishermen. We want at least the River Police to be involved in the process. They should have information about fishermen who go out to catch fish. It will help us identify the criminals,” he said.
On July 18, 2016, the Bangladesh Coast Guard (east zone) got specific information that a boat was coming in at the outer anchorage of Chittagong port with a huge consignment of Yaba tablets. When they chased the boat, it sped away to the deep sea. The smuggler abandoned the boat and fled. Later, the Coast Guard recovered 9.5 lakh Yaba tablets and seized the boat. The owner of the boat, however, could not be identified.
On February 5, 2015, the Bangladesh Navy seized 15 lakh Yaba tablets. When the Navy challenged the fishing trawler due to its seemingly suspicious movements, the gang of smugglers jumped and fled, leaving the trawler near Parky Beach.
In 2016, the Coast Guard seized 59 lakh tablets on fishing trawlers. The owners of the trawlers could not be identified.
While the DoF has given fishing permission to 68,000 trawlers, only 8,000 of these have got fitness certificates and registrations from MMD. Another 5,500 fishing trawlers have not renewed their fitness certificates over the years.
So, some 65,500 fishing trawlers are plying on the waterways without any fitness certificate or registration. The MMD and the DoF blamed manpower shortage for the failure to monitor the unregistered trawlers on the waterways. “We cannot monitor them properly due to a lack of manpower. Sometimes, we conduct a joint camp with the help of the Bangladesh Navy and Coast Guard to get them registered. However, it is not enough. We have served letters to all the deputy commissioners (DCs), seeking their help. No unregistered fishing trawler should be allowed to ply,” said Md Shafiqul Islam, principal officer of the MMD. Blaming the lack of coordination between MMD and DoF, Odhir Chandra Das, assistant director of DoF, said, “We have given fishing permission to 68,000 trawlers. It is true that they are not registered with MMD and the government is losing a massive amount of revenue. We have written to the authorities to authorise us to register fishing trawlers.”
