Reflection Paper

on
Importance of Bay of Bengal for Bangladesh and Bangladesh’s
Role in it

Introduction:
As a student of the course GSG101, I got an invitation to attend the seminar presented by the
honorable and highly Ambassador (Retd.) Tariq A. Karim on 26th of February, 2020. This
seminar was organized by our Faculty Dr. Marufa Aktar. It was also attended by several
delegates and representatives.
The seminar’s motive was to show the importance of Bay of Bengal its effects on us in terms
of climate, politics and economy. He also explained about how we are damaging our potential
and our future by polluting it.
Location:
The Bay of Bengal is in Indian Ocean which is related to all the oceans. All oceans are inter-
related. So even if something happens of a distant ocean can come and impact on our own
ocean and bay. Bay of Bengal is bounded in the west by the east coasts of Sri Lanka and
India, on the north by the deltaic region of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river system,
and on the east by the Myanmar peninsula extended up to the Andaman-Nicobar ridges. The
southern boundary of the Bay is approximately along the line drawn from Dondra Head in the
south of Sri Lanka to the north tip of Sumatra. The Bay occupies an area of about 2.2 million
sq. km and the average depth is 2,600m with a maximum depth of 5,258m. the Bay of Bengal
has long been a route for transportation, trade and cultural exchange between diverse peoples
encompassing South Asia and Southeast Asia. the Bay runs through the more significant
islands of the Andaman group. Therefore, the water between these islands extends further to
the west of the line towards the southwest limits of Burma Sea. 
The Role of Bay of Bengal:
The bay nurtures or used to nurtures Mangrove forest along the entire coastline. The Bay of
Bengal floor is entirely covered in to sediment carpet which measures 14-22 kilometer. It is
the result of cumulative deposition for over a millennium. 1.5-2 billion tons of sails are
carried cumulatively by the rivers. Bangladesh has set to have formed from the process of this
cumulative deposition. The floor of the bay is also part of the Indo-Australian plate which
slowly moving northwards to subduct under the Burma microplate. The combine process of
this subduction results volcanic activity as well as earthquakes. The Sumatra-Andaman
earthquake and the resultant distractive tsunami of 2004 was caused by this process.
Blue Economy:
The blue economy concept use oceans and seas and shared development spaces where special
planning integrates conservation sustainable use of resources, oil and minerals wealth
extraction, bio-prospecting sustainable energy production and marine transport. This
definition was given by a colleague and a friend of (Retd.) Tariq A. Karim sir. But not all of
them see “Blue Economy” as solution but an easy way for money.
“Ocean” contributed over 6 billion dollars to Bangladesh economy in 2014-15. By the World
bank rate: tourism and recreation accounted for 25%, marine fisheries and aqua-culture for
22%, transport for 22%, energy for 19% and minerals for 3%.
Dead Zone:
The Bay of Bengal hosts a 'dead zone' of an estimated 60,000 square kilometres - an area that
contains little or no oxygen and supports microbial processes that remove vast amounts of
nitrogen from the ocean. Marine 'dead zones' contain no oxygen. Until now, there have been
only three major identified dead zones. The researchers also discovered that the Bay of
Bengal hosts microbial communities that can remove nitrogen, as in other well-known dead
zones and even some evidence that they do remove nitrogen, but at really slow. Dead-zone
tent to occur near inhabited coast-lines where aquatic life is most concentrated and it is a
great threat for us as we live on fishing as well.

Pollution:
Plastic debris in the marine environment has serious negative impacts on marine resources,
fisheries as well as on the use of coastal areas for tourism. It is also a threat to our precious
Blue Economy. The Bay of Bengal is rich in marine resources and produces 6 million tons of
fish that correspond to nearly 4 percent of the total global catch. It is an important source of
animal protein for nearly 400 million people in this region. Globally, one million plastic
bottles are purchased every minute. Around 8 million metric tons of plastics go into the
oceans every year. Over 46,000 pieces of plastics are found in one square mile of ocean. The
global production and consumption of plastics have continued to rise and it is estimated that
by 2050, there will be more plastics than fishes in the world’s oceans.

Microplastics, which are tiny pieces of plastic or fibres smaller than 5 mm, are even a more
dangerous form of marine debris/litter. About 80 percent of marine litter is microplastics.
Face wash, toothpaste, scrubs and anti-ageing creams contain thousands of microplastics per
product. A single shower can result in 100,000 plastic particles entering the ocean.
Microplastics (also known as microbeads) are too small to be retained by the filters used at
sewage treatment plants. Fish and shellfish ingest microplastics. So, in-short we are having
plastics for our meal.

It is us who are destroying it and it is us who do have the power to save it. Just a strong will
might change it all. It’s not like we don’t have any choice. Plastics can be recycled, reused
and reduce. A strong security force over the sea can stop other parties to use our sea boundary
for fishing or using our resources. We must urge our government to add policies. One by one
we will be able to pull off and change the future destruction.