Fisheries play a vital economic role in Bangladesh, contributing significantly to GDP, exports, and employment. Bangladesh has an abundance of inland and marine fisheries resources, with over 300 fish species and 20 shrimp varieties caught or farmed. The fisheries industry lacks modern processing equipment, though there are over 100 processing plants, most located in ports. Upgrading plants with new machinery for tasks like cleaning, scaling, skinning and freezing fish could improve production quality and allow Bangladesh to better meet international food safety standards for its major exports of frozen and dried fish and shrimp to European, US, and Japanese markets.

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Bangladesh Fish Processing
Abstract: Bangladesh fishery industry contributes 4.39% to the GDP, 23.00% to the
agricultural GDP, and 6% to the total export value, and modern fish processing in
this country needs new fish processing equipment and technologies.
I. Fishery Is A Superior Industry in Bangladesh
Bangladesh has 4.7 million hectares of inland water areas, and 166,000 square
kilometers marine areas for exclusive economic zone. At the same time, the unique
climate of available sunlight and temperature throughout the year as well as water
fertility in Bangladesh offer advantaged conditions to fish growth and production.
Bangladeshis are traditionally fish-eating people. Fishes play a crucial role in the
Bangladesh diet, and fish supply in Bangladesh meets 60% of the domestic animal
protein consumption. Fishery is an important industry in Bangladesh that contributes
4.39% to the GDP, 23.00% to the agricultural GDP, and 6% to the total export value.
In 2010-2011, around 3.1 million metric tons of fish was caught in the country,
comprising 2.5 million metric tons of freshwater fish and 0.6 million metric tons of
saltwater fish. From 2011 to 2012, the total amount of aquatic products is 3.26 million
tons, and the amount of foreign exchange earning by exporting aquatic products is
2.46%.
Fish (including shrimp and prawn) is the second most valuable agricultural crop, and
its production conduces to the livelihoods and employment. In Bangladesh, there are
1.3 million people directly working by fishery for a living, and the other 10 million
people doing the work related to fishery.
II. Bangladesh Holds Fishery Resources with Wide Variety
Bangladesh’s fishery production can be classified into marine fishery production, and
inland fishery production that is divided into open waters and enclosed waters. Thus,
based on the production water areas, Bangladesh’s fish resources can be divided into
marine and freshwater fishes & shrimps, 300 species of fish and 20 species of shrimps
involved. 1. The most common species is ilish, a kind of national fish.
2. The major and minor indigenous carps are katla, rohu, mrigel, kalbasu; and bata,
reba, nandin, gonia. Introduced exotic species are silver carps, grass carp, bighead
carp, black carp, common carp, silver barb, Tilapia and Mahseer. Among these carps,
rohu, katla, mrigal, and silver carp account for about 74% of pond production.
3. Other major culture species in Bangladesh include the grass carp, common carp,
tilapia and Pangas.
4. The shrimps have two kinds: the brackish water shrimp, like the sugpo prawn,
brown shrimp, Indian prawn; the fresh water shrimp, like the macrobrachium
rosenbergii.

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Fisheries Resources
Inland Open-waters (capture fis
hery)
4047316ha 84.75%
Total Inland Area: 4575706ha
100.00%Inland Closed-waters (culture fi
shery)
528390ha 15.25%
Marine Waters 166,000 sq km
III. Fish Products Processing in Bangladesh
3.1 Processing on fishing boat
Usually, the deep-sea fishing trawlers and mechanized fish boats are equipped with
basic fish processing machines and cold-store facilities to manage the fishes on the
spot. But the small-scale (non mechanized) fishing boat has no fish processing
equipment, the caught fishes and shrimps are stored with ice, and then they are
delivered to fish processing plants or distributors to have further processing.
3.2 Fish processing plants
Before 1971, there were 9 fish processing plants in Bangladesh, and all of these plants
were engaged in fish products production for exporting to Europe and the USA. In
1972-1984, 40 processing plants were installed by the private sector mostly under
government initiation and bank loan support to promote the vision of exports to
Europe and the USA. In 1985-1998, 72 more processing plants were established by
the private sector for processing and exporting shrimp and fish products for an
extended business around the world.
There are 133 aquatic products processing plants in Bangladesh currently, of which 74
plants are under regular surveillance by EU member state and U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) officials to ensure food safety requirements are met. And most
of the processing plants are located in port cities (Khulna and Chittagong). In the
mean time, HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) has been introduced

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in the plants for fish processing.
3.3 Modern fish processing needs new machinery and technology
With the development of fishery industry of Bangladesh, the need for new machinery
and technology of modern fish products processing is obvious. So the fish processing
plants in the country keep introducing as well as developing advanced facilities and
technologies to help a high-quality fish products production. And the fish processing
machines has been improved to meet the international standard, such as the fish
cleaning machine (fish should be washed and cleaned properly before handling in
plants), fish descaling machine, fish skinning machine, and fish meat separating
machine, etc.; as a traditional practice in Bangladesh, dried fish and fish meal
production is also bettered a lot nowadays by using advanced fish meat drying
machines; frozen fishes and shrimps is one of the major fish products of Bangladesh,
the advanced refrigerating equipment is necessary.
IV. Fish Products Exports of Bangladesh
The main import countries of Bangladesh fish products are European countries, the
US and Japan, and these three markets has a 98% import share of the total export
value in Bangladesh. The rest 2% fishery products are mainly exported to Southeast
Asian countries and Middle East countries.
Modern fish processing of Bangladesh is done almost entirely for the export market,
with shrimp processing holding almost 80% of that segment. In July/June fiscal year
2011-2012, Bangladesh exported $598 million worth of fish and seafood, with shrimp
contributing $472 million of the total. And the export product scale comprises 72%
unprocessed products (frozen whole), 24% prepared/processed and 4% other products
(frozen freshwater fish). The major aquatic products for exports in Bangladesh are
frozen prawns, IQF (Individual Quick Freezing) prawns and white meat fishes, PUD
and P&D prawn pieces, packed frozen prawns for retail, fresh and frozen hilsa herring,
dried/salted and dehydrated fishes, fresh fishes and crabs, and small amount of fishes
and shrimps that have additional values.

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