Shawdesh Desk: Bangladesh and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) member states will benefit from proper utilization of the Indian Ocean resources which will strengthen the blue economy.

These findings came from the third IORA Blue Economy Ministerial Conference on “Promoting Sustainable Blue Economy-making the best use of opportunities from the Indian Ocean” at Hotel InterContinental in the capital on Thursday. Rear Admiral (Retd.) Md. Khurshed Alam, Secretary (Maritime Affairs Unit), Ministry of Foreign Affairs briefed the journalists on its outcome after the meeting.

The conference announced a 17-point Dhaka declaration which the member states of IORA will be following in the pursuit of the promotion of an inclusive Blue Economy through sustainable use of its opportunities for socio-economic development in the Indian Ocean Rim region.

Khurshed Alam, said the meeting discussed harvesting sustainably the blue opportunities, enhancing regional cooperation and came up with some recommendations.

These are: a) Fisheries particularly the tuna fish production need to be managed efficiently. The climate change is impacting fisheries and aquaculture; Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) has a vital role to play for better coordination among different sectors of the Blue Economy, b) IORA to assist in facilitating project finance to implement Blue Economy projects, c) Effective implementation of the blue economy may be ensured by developing methodologies such as transdisciplinary research, measuring social impact and promoting joint collaboration among researchers, and policy makers and the corporate sector, d) members states are encouraged to undertaken research in new emerging sectors in Blue Economy for reaping economic benefits by value added approach which could include oyster culture, mariculture and marine flora and e) greater emphasis should be put on training for enhancing the capabilities of IORA members states in mariculture and to explore the possibility of a regional strategy for different aquaculture forms.

The IORA conference also made some other recommendations: IORA member states are encouraged to explore marine genetic resources (MGR), to share best practices in ocean energy technology, water desalination, IORA should aim at initiating the process of marine spatial planning as well as evolving a national ocean policy in all the members states to sustainably use the oceanic resources of the Indian Ocean Region, to share best practices in relevant programs such as coastal socio-hybrid engineering; integrated rice-fish farming; national fish traceability and logistic system, to address the existing gaps in knowledge and data about the state in IOR, in its seabed resources, marine life and risks to habitats and eco-system and Member States are encouraged to have skilled human capital, innovations, and cleaned technologies to implement sustainable blue economy.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the program with Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, IORA chair and South African Deputy Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Makhotso Magdeline Sotyu, and International Seabed Authority (ISA) Secretary General Michael W. Lodge spoke.