Borhanuddin (Bhola) Correspondent :
Even in the full season of the Meghna-Tetulia river at Borhanuddin in Bhola, there is a drought of hilsa in the fishermen’s nets. Due to the drought of hilsa in the river, thousands of fishermen families on the coast are spending their days in extreme despair. There is pressure on him to pay money from moneylenders, loans taken from NGOs.
Jaishtha, Asar, Shravan, Bhadra, Ashwin these five months are full of hilsa season. After the 65-day ban, hilsa is not found in the coastal rivers including the Bay of Bengal. It is known that the life and livelihood of the fishermen here revolves around the Meghna and Tetulia as well as Hilsa in the southern part of Bay of Bengal.
The fishermen along the Meghna banks said that they are struggling to get three meals a day for their families.
They also said that they are complying with all the laws, including the preservation of jatka for two months, the protection of mother hilsa for twenty two days. But still where fish are supposed to be abundant, there are no fish. Hafez Maji, Jasim Maji, Bashir Maji, Mahabub Maji and many others who went to hilsa hunting in Meghna said that it costs at least 2000 taka once to throw a net in the river. But the fish is not enough even for thousands of taka. The next day full of hope, the situation is the same.
The fishermen also said that each of them took money from the moneylender for 2 lakh 50 thousand taka. The moneylender has to pay 10 percent from the fish sale money. Apart from this, one fish has to be given for every twenty fish caught. The principal must be returned at the end of the year.
Prisoner Arif, Md. Farid, Mainuddin said that hilsa was always caught in the net after the mother hilsa protection campaign. This year the river is empty. Apart from a few poa fish, there are no other fish to be seen. Jahangir Majii, the owner of a fishing boat catching hilsa in the Bay of Bengal, said that there is no movement of fish in the sea either. The fishermen are sitting with the heavy trawler costing about fifty lakh taka.
Stokist of Mrizakalu Fish Ghat Harun and Naim Howladar said that after investing crores of taka, they are now in trouble with creditors. Last year also, local fishermen, stokist all saw the face of profit at this time. Such an unusual situation has not been seen before.
Sanjeb Kumar Sarkar, a zoology teacher at the Government Abdul Jabbar College, cited climate change, reduced navigability of the river and inundation of salt water as the reasons for the lack of fish during this period.
Upazila Fisheries Officer Ali Ahmad Akand (additional charge) said that it is difficult to say precisely why fish are falling in the river. This may be due to low flow of fresh water.
