ID :
13342
Tue, 07/22/2008 - 12:28
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Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/13342
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Seismic survey appears crucial to retain maritime boundary: experts
DHAKA, Bangladesh, July 22 (BSS) - The seismic survey of country's territorial sea line appeared crucial as a UN set deadline for lodging maritime claims is to expire in next three years exposing Bangladesh to risks of losing a vast territory in the Bay ofBengal.
"Bangladesh signed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea called (UNCLS) in 2001 and under the law we are obligated to lodge our claim on the maritime boundary by 2011," former chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on DefenceLieutenant General (Retd) Mahbubur Rahman told BSS.
"It is a matter of great regret, unfortunately we could not make any major headway in lodging our claims through seismic and other studies despite the fact we could lose an area in the sea which is larger than the mainland Bangladesh," the former chiefof army staff said.
His comments came as experts said, the country needed to start the seismic survey immediately to claim its maritime boundary UNICLOS to produce the required report before year 2011to claim its legitimate sea territory.
They pointed out, under the convention Bangladesh was required to submit necessary documents to the UN to validate it claim of territorial water, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) up to 200 nautical miles (nm) and continental shelf up to 350 nm fromthe baseline.
All together, the sea area is approximately 1.1 percent more than that of the mainland and UNICLOS III is the latestinstrument that works as the basis of establishing the claim.
"We crucially need to establish the claim in the sea for the huge resources - the gas, oil, fish and all other aquatic resources. It is also important from national security point ofview," said Mahbubur Rahman.
He also cautioned that the neighbouring India and Myanmar already proceeded a long way in crisscrossing Bangladesh'slegitimate territorial shoreline.
The experts said, Bangladesh needed to carry out mainly two major surveys to complete its task of producing the document under UNCLOS, which included Hydrographic survey of the entirecoastline of Bangladesh and Geographical survey of the CS.
The government in 2002 assigned at least thirteen organisations to complete the work in time by 2004 but only Bangladesh Navy completed its task of Bathymetric Mapping of Northern part of the Bay of Bengal and mapping of the geology and geomorphology of the coastal areas and submitted to UNCLOS deskof Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"Bangladesh signed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea called (UNCLS) in 2001 and under the law we are obligated to lodge our claim on the maritime boundary by 2011," former chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on DefenceLieutenant General (Retd) Mahbubur Rahman told BSS.
"It is a matter of great regret, unfortunately we could not make any major headway in lodging our claims through seismic and other studies despite the fact we could lose an area in the sea which is larger than the mainland Bangladesh," the former chiefof army staff said.
His comments came as experts said, the country needed to start the seismic survey immediately to claim its maritime boundary UNICLOS to produce the required report before year 2011to claim its legitimate sea territory.
They pointed out, under the convention Bangladesh was required to submit necessary documents to the UN to validate it claim of territorial water, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) up to 200 nautical miles (nm) and continental shelf up to 350 nm fromthe baseline.
All together, the sea area is approximately 1.1 percent more than that of the mainland and UNICLOS III is the latestinstrument that works as the basis of establishing the claim.
"We crucially need to establish the claim in the sea for the huge resources - the gas, oil, fish and all other aquatic resources. It is also important from national security point ofview," said Mahbubur Rahman.
He also cautioned that the neighbouring India and Myanmar already proceeded a long way in crisscrossing Bangladesh'slegitimate territorial shoreline.
The experts said, Bangladesh needed to carry out mainly two major surveys to complete its task of producing the document under UNCLOS, which included Hydrographic survey of the entirecoastline of Bangladesh and Geographical survey of the CS.
The government in 2002 assigned at least thirteen organisations to complete the work in time by 2004 but only Bangladesh Navy completed its task of Bathymetric Mapping of Northern part of the Bay of Bengal and mapping of the geology and geomorphology of the coastal areas and submitted to UNCLOS deskof Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
