The Cabinet has approved the draft 'The Marine Fisheries Act 2019' keeping five-year jail term and Tk 30 million as the highest penalty for foreign vessels fishing in Bangladeshi waters.
The approval came on Monday (Dec 30) at the weekly Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
“The cabinet gave its final clearance to law, which will replace the 1983 Marine Fisheries Ordinance. The law stipulates penal provisions for violation of the law in fishing in Bangladesh territory both by local and foreign vessels,” Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam told the media at the Secretariat.
The draft law proposes licensing sea-going fishing vessels, which has to be renewed every two years, he said before adding: "The maximum penalty for offenders is a 5-year jail term and Tk 30 million in fine."
Besides, he said, the cabinet approved in principle the drafts of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman University Act, 2019 and Sunamganj Science and Technology University Act, 2019.
The initial clearance for the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (Amendment) Act 2019, which will enable to energy regulator to revise tariffs for more than once in a financial year, said Cabinet Secretary Islam.
"The existing law allows the regulator to revise tariffs once in a fiscal," he said.