Calling for the proper use of the country's natural and marine resources, fisheries and livestock adviser Farida Akhter said that using them properly will make the country economically more prosperous and it will no longer remain poor.

She was speaking as chief guest at the results-sharing and phase-out workshop of USAID's Ecofish-2 project in the Grand Ballroom of the Hotel InterContinental on the morning of Monday, 21 October.

The adviser said the way community members, experts and scientists in the Ecofish-2 project are working to build the country is praiseworthy. "The capability and potential of scientists must be put to use and they must be given respect. We are proud of our country's scientists," she said.

She added that increasing people's food and nutrition is very important work, and that they want to increase it through this project. Women's involvement in Ecofish-2 is notable, she said, and if women become financially self-reliant through it, their empowerment will grow.

Describing hilsa as a great resource, she said the fishers involved in protecting mother hilsa must also be protected. The government is trying to increase support so that fishers do not suffer, especially during the ban from 13 October to 3 November. She urged Ecofish-2 to do more to protect hilsa and biodiversity in coastal rivers.

The event was chaired by Md Zillur Rahman, director general of the Department of Fisheries. Special guests who spoke were Reed J. Ashliman, mission director of USAID Bangladesh, and Sayed Mahmud Belal Haider, secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock. Guests included Dr Anuradha Bhadra, director general of the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute; Dr Ann Elizabeth Fleming, director of programme and impact management at WorldFish; Dr Mohammad Mokarram Hossain, chief of party of the Ecofish project; and Salma Akter, focal person of Ecofish-2. Representatives of government and private organisations, WorldFish and educational institutions, community leaders and beneficiaries also attended.

USAID's Ecofish-2 works with the Department of Fisheries towards balancing and improving Bangladesh's marine biodiversity and the lives and livelihoods of fishers. The project works on biodiversity conservation, improving the marine and coastal environment and raising the living standards of marginal fishing families. Alongside protecting hilsa and other aquatic animals in the rivers and conserving marine biodiversity, it emphasises improving the lives of marginal fishing families in Bangladesh's coastal region. In this work Ecofish-2 is working with the Department of Fisheries, the Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation, the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, several universities and non-governmental organisations.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.