Hilsa Coming Back To Rivers
To us Bangalees, hilsa isn't just a fish. It's an integral part of our culture and heritage. Be it fried or cooked with mustard, hilsa is a must in Pahela Baishakh celebrations. But they aren't anymore safe in our rivers, home to world's 60pc hilsa. This four-part series focuses on the existential crisis, changing habitat and ways to conserve this much coveted fish.
Samyasathee Bhowmik of Rajshahi in September last year wanted to buy some hilsas to treat his guests with during the Durga Puja celebrations due next month.
Worried over the dearth of hilsa that had been prevailing in the Padma river for the previous few years, he hesitantly went to a fish market, close to the jetty where fishermen unload their catch.
But fate smiled on him this time.
"I couldn't believe my eyes. I saw a large supply of hilsa fresh from the Padma that morning. And without a second thought, I bought more than a dozen of them," said the assistant professor of English at Rajshahi Govt College.
"Just a few years ago, there was hardly any hilsa, caught in the Padma, available in the market. We had to depend on the supply from Barisal or other regions. But these days, things have improved quite a lot," said Samyasathee.
Hilsa availability in the Rajshahi region drastically fell in the early 1990s as the most favourite, and arguably the tastiest, fish of the Bangalees across the world stopped migrating to the Padma, largely due to overfishing of brood hilsas and reduction in water flow in the once-mighty river.
And not just in the Padma, the same happened in other rivers of the country as well. Whereas this particular species of fish was found in as many as 50 rivers of the country even three decades ago, it's now available in 10 rivers only, according to the officials of the Department of Fisheries (DoF).
However, recent conservation efforts by the government resulted in an increased migration of hilsas from the Bay of Bengal to Rajshahi and India's Murshidabad regions through the Padma.
"It's a good news that hilsas are returning to the Padma river. We noticed fishermen have been catching hilsas in the Padma in the Rajshahi region again for the last couple of years," said DoF Deputy Director Masud Ara Momi.
A SUCCESSFUL INITIATIVE
Hilsa production in the country slumped to 1.99 lakh tonnes in 2002-03 season, creating a nationwide crisis of the fish.
This prompted the government to initiate a project to conserve jatka (hilsa less than 10 inches long) in 2004. Initially, raising awareness and dissuading fishermen from catching brood hilsa was the target.
But to bolster its efforts, the government slapped a ban on fishing jatka and mother hilsas in five breeding zones for eight months between November and June from 2007-08 season.
Four of these zones are 100km-stretch of the Meghna from Shatnol in Chandpur to Char Alexander in Laximpur, 90km-stretch of the Shahbazpur tributary of the Meghna from Madanpur/Char Ilisha to Char Piyal in Bhola, 100km-stretch of the Tetutlia from Bhola's Bheduria to Patuakhali's Char Rustam, and 20km-stretch of the lower Padma in Naria-Bhedorganj of Shariatpur. Apart from the eight-month-long ban on catching hilsa and jatka, all kinds of fishing are prohibited in these zones between March and April.
The other nursery ground is 40km-stretch of the Andharmanik in Patuakhali's Kalapara. All sorts of fishing are banned here between November and January.
Moreover, gill net, which is used to catch jatka, was banned.
These steps proved really effective.
The production of hilsa shot up to 2.9 lakh tonnes in the very first season after the ban was put in place, from 1.99 lakh tonnes five seasons ago, DoF statistics show.
The figure got only higher and higher in the following years to stand at 3.85 lakh tonnes, more than 11 percent of the country's annual fish production, in 2013-14 fiscal year.
However, the current conservation project will end in June. What will happen then?
"We will extend the project's tenure after that," Fisheries and Livestock Minister Mohammed Sayedul Haque told The Daily Star.
Following Bangladesh's example, the government of India also took the same initiative a couple of years back to increase the production of hilsa, a popular fish among the people of West Bengal, Odisha, Tripura, Assam and some other states of the country.
GOOD BUT COULD BE BETTER
Praising the government initiatives in conserving hilsa, experts think further success can be achieved by ensuring proper compensation for fishermen and completely stopping the use of gill net.
The government has registered about half a million fishermen who are affected by the eight-month-long ban on hilsa fishing. But only 2.24 lakh of them receive compensation and that too 40kg rice a month only which is not enough.
"A five-member family needs at least three kilograms of rice a day. So, a fisherman family should get 90-100kg rice and at least Tk 1,000 in cash every month to meet their demands," said Fanibhushan Malo, secretary general of Jatiya Matsajibi Samity, a platform of fishermen.
Besides, more than half of the affected fishermen do not receive any government assistance and eventually are forced to catch hilsa broods illegally during the ban period.
"If all the hilsa fishermen are not compensated properly, they should not be blamed for catching jatka," Fanibhushan commented.
When his attention was drawn to this, a DoF official said, "We have plans to create a trust fund with a portion of the income from exporting hilsa. This fund will be used for hilsa management and compensating fishermen during the ban." He wished anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to the media.
On stopping the use of gill net, Fisheries Minister Sayedul Haque said the government would soon start drives against gill net soon as the High Court has scrapped all 57 writs against the law banning manufacturing and use of the net.
Zahid Habib, director of the Jatka Conservation Project, said, "It is possible to further increase hilsa production if the government provides us with more logistic supports, including manpower and funding."
Pollution is another menace standing in the way of increasing hilsa population.
"Only three decades ago, hilsa was available in the Kaliganga and the Shitalakkhya rivers. But both the rivers are now so excessively polluted that not even a single hilsa is found there now," said Dr GC Halder, a retired scientist of Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute.
The country's hilsa production, which accounts almost 60 percent of the global production, can be furthered through systematic steps taken by the government, said academic-researcher-economist Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, also a former adviser to a caretaker government.
In his study titled "Hilsa and Hilsa Fishermen" published in December last year, he stated around 37 percent hilsa fishermen have to take loans every year as they cannot fish during the ban period. And this problem should also be addressed to prevent fishermen from ignoring the ban.
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