Govt plans to provide ID cards for fishermen

The government is planning to bring all the fishermen under registration system and provide identity cards (ID) for them to ensure their welfare, said an official source yesterday.
The Department of Fisheries (DoF) has already finalised a project titled "Fishermen Registration, Issuing of Identity Card and Disaster Rehabilitation" which will be implemented at a cost Tk 93.63 crore.
The implementation of the four-year project will begin at 482 upazilas after getting approval from the upcoming meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec).
"The project would help to identify the genuine fishermen and to ensure the real ownership of the water bodies (jalmahals) across the country, " said Director General of the Department of Fisheries Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman Khan.
Under the project, the government will prepare a list of the fishermen with the help of the local non-government organisations (NGOs). The lists of the genuine fishermen will be verified by the local upazila committees to be formed with the local government officials headed by the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) as the chairman.
The final list of the fishermen would be approved by the fisheries department which will prepare final database of the individual fishermen and then the genuine fishermen would get the ID cards, the fisheries official said.
Department of Fisheries estimated that about 12.80 lakh fishermen are engaged in fishing fully.