Bangladesh plans to grant traditional fishers access to public water bodies while accelerating wetland restoration and river dredging to strengthen livelihoods, fisheries management, biodiversity, and climate resilience nationwide.
New policy seeks to expand access to fisheries, reform wetland management and accelerate river restoration as the country confronts growing climate risks.
Bangladesh will open public water bodies across the country to traditional fishing communities under a new government initiative aimed at improving livelihoods, expanding equitable access to fisheries and strengthening climate resilience in the country’s ecologically important wetland regions.
The announcement was made on Friday by State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Sultan Salahuddin Tuku during a press briefing at the Netrokona Circuit House in northeastern Bangladesh.
According to the minister, the policy is intended to ensure that genuine small-scale fishers can freely access public water bodies and pursue their livelihoods without unnecessary restrictions. He said the government is committed to protecting the rights of traditional fishing communities, particularly those living in Bangladesh’s haor wetlands, vast seasonal floodplain ecosystems in the northeast that support millions of people through fishing, agriculture and rich biodiversity.
The minister said the government aims to implement the policy under the principle of “Jal Jar, Jol Tar,” a Bengali phrase meaning that those who depend on fishing for their livelihoods should have fair access to public water resources.
For decades, many public water bodies in Bangladesh have been managed through a leasing system under which fishing rights were allocated to leaseholders. Critics have long argued that the system often restricted access for small-scale fishers while benefiting influential individuals or groups, limiting livelihood opportunities for communities that traditionally depended on inland fisheries.
According to the minister, the government plans to introduce legal and administrative measures to remove those barriers and ensure that traditional fishers can harvest fish from public water bodies more freely.
The announcement comes as Bangladesh continues efforts to strengthen one of the world’s largest inland fisheries sectors, which plays a vital role in national food security, rural employment, nutrition and the country’s economy. Millions of Bangladeshis rely directly or indirectly on inland fisheries for their livelihoods, while freshwater fish remain an important source of animal protein for the population.
Alongside fisheries reforms, the government is also placing greater emphasis on restoring rivers and canals to reduce waterlogging and protect boro rice, Bangladesh’s largest dry-season rice crop, from increasingly frequent flash floods and climate-related disruptions.
The minister said river and canal dredging programmes are being accelerated to restore natural water flow, improve drainage, reduce prolonged waterlogging and lower the risk of crop losses during sudden floods. He added that several dredging projects have already been completed in different parts of the country to improve navigability, strengthen water management and reduce flood-related hardship for local communities.
The initiative reflects growing recognition of the importance of healthy wetlands in strengthening climate resilience. Wetlands play a critical role in storing floodwater, supporting fisheries, conserving biodiversity, recharging groundwater and sustaining rural livelihoods. As climate change intensifies extreme rainfall and flooding across South Asia, protecting and restoring these ecosystems is increasingly viewed as an essential component of long-term adaptation strategies.
The press briefing was attended by State Minister for Railways and the Road Transport and Highways Division Habibur Rashid, Member of Parliament for Netrokona-4 and former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar, senior leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), officials from the district administration and police and representatives of the local media.
During his visit to Netrokona, the fisheries state minister also inaugurated fish fingerling release programmes at several locations across the district as part of government efforts to replenish fish stocks, promote sustainable inland fisheries and support the livelihoods of wetland-dependent communities.
If implemented effectively, the new policy could improve access to fisheries for thousands of traditional fishers while contributing to wetland conservation, sustainable resource management and climate adaptation in one of the world’s most densely populated and climate-vulnerable delta nations.
