Fishing harbours in the Bay of Bengal region are patronized by small-scale fisherfolk as well as by owners and operators of large vessels. Thousands of tons of fish are handled every day at these harbours. Although the bulk of fish landed in these countries is destined for local markets, every country wishes to improve the quality of its landed catch to increase exports of seafood products to more lucrative overseas markets.
What constitutes pollution? What is contamination? This manual describes potential pollutants generated by harbour activities and potential contaminants that may find their way into the harbour from outside sources. It discusses the standards needed for water quality, and procedures to monitor standards. It discusses waste management and effluent treatment, and concepts, such as HACCP, designed to ensure fish quality.
Because of recent developments on food safety assurance - such as the concept of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and the directives of the European Union - seafood exporting countries will, in future, need to comply with stringent new food safety requirements. This manual's information on sources of pollution and ways to control it is therefore timely.
The BOBP thanks the IMO for supporting the research, preparation and production of this manual. It is the last in a series of collaborative activities on cleaner fishery harbours in the Bay of Bengal region between BOBP and the IMO. Earlier projects included reception facilities for garbage and oily wastes at the Visakhapatnam fishing harbour; the 1991 regional workshop on cleaner fishery harbours, held in Penang, Malaysia as well as a series of pilot projects held in Phuket (Thailand), Negombo (Sri Lanka) and Male (Maldives).
We hope that these collaborative activities, together with the manual, have gone some way toward highlighting and mitigating fishing harbour pollution in the Bay of Bengal region.
Kee-Chai CHONG
Programme Coordinator, BOBP
