Bangladesh has been placed 47th on a new global index ranking countries in terms of their vulnerability, prevalence, and response to illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing. This position on the IUU Fishing Index’ serves as a call to action, though it is better than many European countries such as Spain, Italy, Portugal and regional powers like Japan, China, and India. Belgium has come out as the best-performing country while China is the worst in terms of illegal fishing. Consultancy firm Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management Ltd and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, a Geneva-based NGO network of experts, have developed the index for a detailed analysis of fishery countries’ vulnerability, exposure, and responses to IUU fishing. The Norwegian foreign ministry has funded the index. It has ranked all 152 countries that have a maritime coastline. Bangladesh’s score is 2 .41, a little less than the global average of 2.29 (1 the best, 5 the worst). This illegal fishing issue is one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Indicator 14.6.1 of SDGs, related to SDG 14 Life Below Water’, is dedicated to measuring achievements made towards the ambitious target of eliminating IUU fishing by 2020. Updated on a regular basis, this IUU index can serve as a useful addition to the monitoring the SDG indicator, according to its website. It will also be beneficial to those with management responsibilities in governments and regional fisheries-management organisations. Those wishing to fund activities aimed at reducing IUU fishing, civil society and consumers, and others, such as seafood buyers, looking to ensure that their sourcing of product responds to an impetus to buy from sustainable sources also use this index data. Fish is a highly traded commodity and one of the most traded segments of the world food sector. Bangladesh is one of the world’s leading fish producing countries with a total production of 4.13 million MT. The government’s target is to reach 4.55 million MT by 2020-21. Bangladesh exports frozen shrimp and other fish and fisheries products to more than 50 countries, including Belgium UK, Netherlands, Germany, USA, China, France, Russian Federation, Japan and Saudi Arabia. In 2016-17, the country earned Tk42876.40 million by exporting almost 68.31 thousand MT of fish and fisheries products, according to the government statistics. More than 11 percent of total Bangladeshi are engaged with this sector on full time and part time basis for their livelihoods.