Page 63 - Navy Journal 219

Taking the Stake ...

So, does declaration alone without any legal arrangement take any effect
towards implementation of first ever MPA of Bangladesh? Unfortunately, our
people do not bother any sort of conservation business rather people think this is
their right to exploit the area at the fullest whether it is good or bad as a whole.
They think they have right to consume not conserve. Conserving is the duty of
government. They consider public or common property as nobody's property
when comes for preservation, even for their own sustainability. This reality in a
densely populated country is not very encouraging for conservation of depleting
natural resources and ecosystem. For the people’s futures strict monitoring and
rigorous measures have to be undertaken against violators (IUCN, 2015).

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is the top most problem
in marine area of Bangladesh (Islamet al., 2017, IUCN, 2015). A total of 67,669
fishing trawlers do fishing in the sea area of Bangladesh (Fisheries Statistics,
2017-18). Therefore, destructive fishing activities do not spare SoNG-MPA; for
example, if a whale is somehow knotted with fishing net, it will die painfully and
gradually, though it may be unintentional. (Karim & Uddin, 2019). This would
lead to the explosion of whale’s prey; in turn which would led to the extinction
of prey’s prey, thus imbalance is created. But the question is; do fishers know this
reality? This indicates the crucial role of fishermen or the stakeholders for the
management of MPA.
Requirement of Involvement of Stakeholders

Stakeholders of the MPA include primarily fishing community, seafarers
and government officials and also include conservation society, non-government
agencies, business and commercial communities. Understanding of different
stakeholders, their aspirations, practices and interests are central to
ecosystem-based management (Pomeroy and Douvere, 2008). UNCLOS-III has
mentioned the economic interest of the coastal fishing communities (UNCLOS,
1983 article 61(3)). It also mentioned that special attention to be given to the
requirements of developing countries. According to Curtin & Prellezo, (2010),
for a management strategy to be successful, involvement of stakeholders in MPA
creation and management is considered to be essential element. When an MPA is
established often stakeholders become discontented as they may perceive a loss
of opportunities (Stump and Kriwoken, 2006). This negative feeling can lead to
poor acceptance and failure of MPA objectives (Trenouth et al., 2012). Thus,
understanding stakeholders’ perception, interest and their problem will enable

55