Fisheries resources of Bangladesh: Present status and future direction

Abstract Bangladesh is considered one of the most suitable regions for fisheries in the world, with the world's largest flooded wetland and the third largest aquatic biodiversity in Asia after China and India. This paper reviews the performance of fisheries in Bangladesh using data collected from the Bangladesh Department of Fisheries, and related un-published grey literatures. The findings within describe recent growth within Bangladeshi inland fisheries, primarily in the inland aquaculture sector (2014–2015). This increase in the aquaculture production has been made possible with the implementation of scientific and technological modernization. From 2000 and 2016, aquaculture production increased from 712,640 and 2,060,408 metric t, a much larger quantity than wild capture production (1.023 million t) in 2016. There has also been a recent increase in the value of fishery exports, with more than US $34.08 billion in 2010 rising to more than US $46.60 billion in 2015. However, fisheries production is well below production targets despite the large gains seen in the aquaculture sector.