As time passed, the growing responsibility and workload became inconvenient for the Bangladesh Navy, with the increasing volume of policing duties at sea taking away from its primary role.

The headquarters of the Bangladesh Coast Guard in Agargaon, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207 and four zones (Dhaka, Chittagong, Mongla and Bhola).

UNCLOS 1982 has made provision for sovereign rights for exploration and exploitation of living and non-living resources in the Bangladesh exclusive economic zone.

Apart from these, a vast number of ships and craft of various types and sizes operate at sea for trade, commerce, fishing, research, exploration and extraction of oil, gas and minerals and so on.

The coast guard's mission is to control piracy, illegal trafficking, protect the fishery, oil, gas, forest resources and environmental pollution in Bangladesh waters and coastal areas, ensure overall security and law and order through security assistance to seaports, conduct relief and rescue operation in the coastal areas during natural calamity.

The coast guard ordered six X12 high-speed boats which are being built at Dockyard and Engineering Works Limited with technical assistance from Indonesia.

In October 2021, The Bangladesh Coast Guard has ordered undisclosed number of Turkish-made Ares 150 Hercules offshore patrol vessels.

It has a long-term plan of installing long-range identification and tracking (LRIT) and vessel traffic management information systems (VTMIS) by 2025.