India, Bangladesh need to cooperate on ‘grey areas’ in Bay of Bengal maritime boundaries

India and Bangladesh resolved maritime boundary issues but there are “grey areas” in the maritime boundary that pose challenges to authorities on both sides and call for closer coordination, said a leading maritime expert and consultant here earlier this week. Speaking to The Hindu, Joshua Alexander, founder of Maritime Frontiers, an Australian ocean and maritime consultancy who provided technical expertise to Bangladesh on maritime issues said that during the Hasina years Bangladesh dealt with the threat of piracy near the Chittagong port effectively which has increased its attractiveness to the global shipping industry.

“It was quite interesting to see that Bangladesh and India were willing resolve their dispute on maritime boundaries. They both went to a tribunal and agreed to abide by the decision of the tribunal. But the boundaries that have been agreed are not really simple,” said Mr. Alexander who worked during 2009-‘21 on maritime issues with the Government of Bangladesh. A UN Tribunal on the India-Bangladesh maritime boundary dispute in 2014 awarded Bangladesh 19,467 sq. km of the 25,602 sq km sea area of Bay of Bengal.

Elaborating on the boundaries that were agreed upon, Mr. Alexander who visited Dhaka this month, said that the maritime boundaries in the Bay of Bengal have areas that are known as “grey areas”. “A grey area is an area where Bangladesh has jurisdiction over the sea bed, but India has jurisdiction over the water column — so there is a disconnect. There is no way practically that that area can be properly managed unless the two countries agree on how to manage it,” said Mr. Alexander.

“You can not have Bangladesh authorising construction of an oil platform over the sea bed even though they have the jurisdiction over the grey area without taking into account that India will have jurisdiction over the water columns in that area. So the two countries will have to agree on how they are going to cooperate on this,” said Mr. Alexander emphasising that India and Bangladesh are yet to find a way to cooperate in the resource rich grey areas of the Bay of Bengal that are within their jurisdictions.

Mr. Alexander’s remarks came against the backdrop of the interim government of Bangladesh moving ahead with fast-paced modernisation of the ports of the country which has drawn both criticism and appreciation. He welcomed the interim government’s steps to lease the New Mooring Container Terminal (NMCT) of Chittagong port to the UAE-based DP World saying, “Bangladesh is a sovereign country and it has the right to do what it plans to do in order to optimally use its ports.” He also gave credit to the previous government of deposed PM Sheikh Hasina for carrying out security measures that have reduced the incidents of piracy near the Chittagong port.

Mr. Alexander said that in 2006, the Chittagong port was among the most insecure ports of the world because of high incidents of piracy. But the Bangladesh Navy has worked with India and the United States to “monitor and respond” to piracy near Chittagong coastline over the past five or six years, he said. The Chief Adviser of the interim government Prof. Mohammed Yunus had hit the headlines in his last visit to China where he had described Bangladesh as the “only guardian of the ocean” which could allow northeastern India – which he described as “landlocked” – access to the Bay of Bengal through Bangladeshi ports like Chittagong and Matarbari.

Mr. Alexander said that while the Hasina government helped in countering piracy near Chittagong port, her government however could not take advantage of Bangladesh’s location in the Bay of Bengal and urged Dhaka to plan for the next half-century so that it could develop its ports for the future shipping trends that will include autonomous vessels and ships, that require special security arrangements.

(The correspondent was in Bangladesh to participate in the Bay of Bengal Conversation organised by the Centre for Governance Studies, Dhaka)