Fisheries policy in Bangladesh is still trying to get to grips with the major dilemmas of maximizing benefits from natural resources. During the 20th century Bangladesh adopted one-sided production-oriented policies in the agricultural sector to feed its rapidly growing population. This strategy included increasing fish production, then in decline mainly as a result of environmental degradation brought about by the expansion of agriculture. The solution was to develop aquaculture and later to promote culture-based fisheries and large-scale stocking in the floodplains and beels (lakes) that previously sustained capture fisheries. Although fish production per se in many cases may have increased as a result of this type of intervention, benefits have not been socially and environmentally sustainable. This document reviews and discusses the development of culture-based fisheries and community-based fisheries management in Bangladesh with regard to socio-economic impacts as well as environmental effects and biodiversity loss.