Indigenous fishes now dear as most are disappering
Fishes of indigenous species are selling at high rates because of their high demand in the local markets.
Many of these fishes are about to be extinct because of which many kids today know them in their names only, elderly locals said.
Just a few years back, Lalmonirhat people could taste the indigenous fishes like sheatfish, carp anabas, catfish, striped snakehead, chital, rui, barbel, kakila, soborna, giant snakehead, flatfish, bele, meni, tengra, and many other species.
Fish traders at the district's biggest fish market, Goshala Bazar, in the town said, now one kg of any local species fish is being sold at Tk 600 to 1500. Only two years ago, those were sold at Tk 250 to 300, they said.
Indigenous fishes are gradually going beyond the purchase capacity of the general people they said, adding today rich people can only buy these fishes.
“I have purchased half of kg of meni fish for Tk 400 from the local market on Saturday. I bought the fish at high rate as they are becoming very rare in the market,” said Mahidul Islam Sarker of Thana Road in the town.
Jahidur Rahman, a jewellery shop owner at Baniapatti in the town, said he purchased two kgs of barbel fish at Tk 2900 on Sunday morning.
“I had been searching the fish for the last one month, and I got it finally,” he said.
Ranjit Kumar Das, a fish trader at Goshala Bazar, said he often gets advance payment from many people for delivering local species fishes.
“Only 4 to 5 percent of fishes in the entire fish market is of indigenous origin while the rest are chalani (cultivated) fishes,” he said.
Elderly fishermen Sujit Kumar Das, Ramoni Das, Manoranjon Das and many others at Majhipara village of Sarpukur union in Aditmari upazila told this correspondent that there were no 'shelter' for indigenous fishes now as most govt water bodies leased out for fish farming.
The lessees cultivate chalani fishes in the water bodies for high profit, they said.
Besides, due to climate change, majority of natural water bodies have dried up causing scarcity of local species fishes, they added.
District Fishery Officer (DFO) in Lalmonirhat, Dr Abul Hasanat, remarked that time might come when people would only hear the names of different local species fishes but they cannot see those.
Climate change, use of toxic insecticides are the major reasons behind the extinction of indigenous fishes, he said.
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