Conservation of marine living resources of the Bay of Bengal

The law of the sea (LOS) is one of the oldest areas of international law but it is only in the latter half of the last century when the conservation of marine living resources received the attention of the international community as a subject matter of LOS.
In the absence of a definition of 'conservation of marine living resources' in the 1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), we find a definition in the High Seas Fishing Convention, 1958 that conservation of the living resources of the high seas means "the aggregate of the measures rendering possible the optimum sustainable yield from those resources so as to secure a maximum supply of food and other marine products. Conservation programmes should be formulated with a view to securing in the first place a supply of food for human consumption." Thus, it is understood that the conservation of marine living resources is essential for the states' economy, ecology and culture.
As the marine living resources are renewable, there is certainly a need to pursue conservation measures in order to secure sustainable management of these resources.
The UNCLOS does not regulate marine living resources comprehensively in a single section of the Convention. Rather, it includes provisions on the conservation and sustainable use of marine living resources within the framework of states' rights and obligations in different jurisdictional areas and with regard to specific species. Since the operationalization of the UNCLOS, it is observed that these state-centric and traditional zonal management and species-specific approaches to the conservation of marine living resources could not significantly contribute to conservation.
On the other hand, with the development of science and technology, the human capacity to explore and exploit the marine living resources has increased in a manifold. As a result, in the wake of a fragile regulatory mechanism, the threats to marine living resources are increasing day by day.The failure of conservation of marine living resources is primarily attributable to the states for lack of will to take proper conservation measures.
At the same time, it is also admitted that the existing rules of international law governing the conservation of marine living resources contain many limitations. In the subsequent developments of UNCLOS, states in addressing conservation of marine living resources have begun to incorporate some emerging principles like- the precautionary principle, the ecosystem-based approach, EIA and the polluter pays principle.
In the context of adverse impacts of climate change and the global goal to conserve and sustainably use the marine living resources, it is imperative for the states to respond to those global issues and concerns. Several studies confirm that marine living resources of the Bay of Bengal are going to face a serious consequence in the near future. Moreover, in the Bay of Bengal region, there is a serious lack of regulations both at the domestic level and at the regional level to address marine pollution and related menace.
Bangladesh with its unique geographical feature, and recently settled maritime boundary disputes with neighbouring states, possesses long coastline and significant portion in the Bay of Bengal. In this backdrop, a well-equipped legal regime, based on regional co-operation, is required for Bangladesh to take a holistic and integrated approach to the conservation of marine living resources, prevention of marine pollution and conservation of marine         biodiversity.
Bangladesh has to examine the compatibility of its domestic laws dealing with conservation and sustainable management of marine living resources through analysing the international and regional instruments regulating, inter alia, overexploitation of living resources, determining and enforcing allowable catch and maximum sustainable yield, saving the endangered marine species, addressing the illegal unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, by catch and marine pollution issues.
The gaps and constraints of existing legal and institutional frameworks dealing with marine living resources in Bangladesh should also be identified to provide necessary policy guidance at the regulatory regime. This would help Bangladesh to achieve the objective of conserving marine living resources keeping their goal of 'blue growth' intact.
Bangladesh may think of preparing a model legal mechanism, focusing on regional cooperation, keeping in mind the international obligations and successful experiences from other regions, which would help ensure conservation and sustainable management of marine living resources in the Bay of Bengal region.
These exercises will guide the government agencies, regional and international organizations and researchers who work for the conservation and sustainable management of marine living resources in the Bay of Bengal region.
Imtiaz Ahmed Sajal is environmental lawyer and works at Bangladesh Army International University of Science and Technology