Saint Martin's Island: Challenges and opportunities for blue economy of Bangladesh

The blue economy represents a critical paradigm shift for Bangladesh.

It transitions away from traditional resource extraction toward a regenerative model that aims to balance ocean health with economic vitality across the nation's vast 118,813-square-kilometre maritime domain.

At the forefront of this effort is Saint Martin's Island, Bangladesh's only coral-bearing island, which is at a critical point and has an estimated Total Economic Value (TEV) of nearly $33.6 million each year.

Saint Martin's Island supports approximately 10,000 residents. The island is administratively divided into distinct neighbourhoods or paras: Uttar Para (North), Golachipa (the narrow neck), and Dakhin Para (South).

The island also includes Cheradip, which is a detached southern tip that frequently submerges underwater.

For decades, the island's economy has relied heavily on three main pillars, fishing, agriculture, and tourism. At present, sea fishing is the main driving force, as it brings 61% of the local income, as per 2025 data provided by the Department of Environment. Meanwhile, small businesses, which are almost entirely fueled by the tourism sector, make up another 31%.

But in this current context of climate change and human-induced pollution, Saint Martin's Island is under immense threat. The threats to Saint Martin's blue economy are not singular but systemic, arising from a complex "poly-crisis."

The high rate of juvenile catches is perhaps the most alarming sign of a looming fishery collapse. Research indicates that for several large commercial species, 98% of the landed catch consists of juveniles.

The removal of juveniles prevents stock replenishment. This phenomenon, known as growth overfishing, leads to a catastrophic decline in the spawning biomass.

Plastic waste has infiltrated every corner of the island's natural world, a direct consequence of the tourist-driven economy. This anthropogenic debris becomes a permanent killing mechanism within the ecosystem.

This plastic pollution chokes coral polyps and eventually works its way into the ocean's food chain as microplastics, posing severe health risks as a result.

Furthermore, abandoned fishing nets, made of synthetic polymers, pose a serious threat to the marine environment and contribute to the plastic problem. The island is home to about 7,000 stray dogs, which means that there is almost one dog per 1.5 people on the island. These dogs feed on turtle eggs and hatchlings, which significantly hampers conservation initiatives.

A white fly plague swept through the island, dealing a severe blow to the flora. Studies showed that roughly 300 coconut trees perished in late 2024.

Tourism remains the dominant economic engine of the island. However, its current form is largely extractive, unsustainable, and temporary.

Consequently, many residents find themselves returning to sporadic farming and fishing. Others are employed in souvenir shops, seafood eateries, van transport, and small-scale retail. While tourism drives the island's economy, its present iteration is both exploitative and not viable in the long term.

Despite potential threats to the island, there are many economic opportunities that can be derived from using its resources in a sustainable way.

The blue economy opportunity lies in shifting from a "mass tourism" model to a "blue tourism" model, which is characterised by controlled volume, high yield, and low environmental impact.

Saint Martin's Island possesses unique hydrological characteristics, namely, the high level of salinity, moderately deep waters, and rocky bottom that make it uniquely capable of hosting only the high-value mariculture activities in Bangladesh.

Study reveals that the seaweed market has a global value of over $11 billion, but Bangladesh can manufacture around 400 tonnes every year, which is not even a fraction of its projected market of 50 million tonnes.

Marine pearl culture has high-value export potential. Although freshwater pearl culture has been practised in Bangladesh, the salinity of Saint Martin's Island could yield premium varieties of marine pearls like Akoya or South Sea pearls.

Additionally, marine finfish cage culture can be practised since the bays of the island are secluded areas that are favourable to cage farming.

Moreover, Saint Martin Island is well-positioned to transition to the hybrid renewable energy source since the island is, at the moment, very dependent on diesel. It has approximately 55 diesel generators characterised by a consumption of approximately 275 litres of fuel per day, which emits approximately 737 kg of greenhouse gases daily, or 110 tons in the five-month high season of tourism.

High year-round irradiance also leads to a strong solar potential on the island. Furthermore, Saint Martin's Island is a naturally found reservoir of blue carbon, which is the carbon that is sequestered and stored in the ocean and coastal ecosystem.

The intertidal and subtidal areas of the island have striking seagrass meadows such as Halodule uninervis, Halophila beccarii and Halophila ovalis. These meadows are effective sinks of carbon.

Nevertheless, the recent nine-month tourist entry ban (Feb-Oct) and limited number of tourist visits per day in season appear to have delivered rapid ecological relief, which includes vegetation recovery (including native species such as Pandanus, Avicennia marina, and Vitex trifolia), renewed beach biodiversity (return of bubbler and soldier crabs), and broader signs of "breathing space" for coastal systems.

Although 2,000 people currently visit per day during the peak season, we suggest keeping the visitation rate below this level, keeping in mind the island's carrying capacity. Illegal construction, disruptive shoreline lighting affecting turtle hatchlings, unmanaged stray dog expansion, and continued waste dumping on beaches will quickly reverse these gains unless proper measures are taken immediately.

Ultimately, to achieve the full potential of the blue economy of Saint Martin, a drastic change in the approach towards the extractive use to the regenerative one with the clear connection between national development focus and global objectives, namely, Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life Below Water) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), is necessary.

A central component of this shift is the transition from volume-led "Mass tourism" to higher-value "Blue Tourism." The constraints are, however, multidimensional, and this means that isolated interventions will definitely not work.

The effectiveness of the policy will depend on the ability to close the implementation gap with the help of clearly enforced rules, shared governance with the local communities, and stable financing mechanisms (such as conservation fees and a strong ban on waste) that will meet SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).

Dr Wasim Akram, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Southeast University

MD Helal Hossain, Student, Department of Environmental Economics, Dhaka School of Economics

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.