<i>Eel has excellent export potential like shrimps</i>

L-R: Two workers of eel cultivator ABM Shamsul Alam Badal set up enclosures in a pond to breed the fish, locally known as kuichya, at Bailor in Trishal upazila of Mymensingh. The snake-like eel that has export potential like shrimps is now being sold in many places of the country, including capital Dhaka.Photo: STAR

Eel, a thin snake-like, fish locally known as kuichya, has an excellent export potential like the shrimps, fishery officials said.
The weather, soil and water quality of Bangladesh is very much favourable for eel cultivation. There is a huge demand of the fish throughout China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia and Korea, they said.
Inspired by some Chinese experts, ABM Shamsul Alam Badal, who had his Masters degree from Rajshahi University, started cultivating eels at a pond of Agro-3 Fish Hatchery and Culture at Bailor in Trishal of Mymensingh.
Badal has been in hatchery business for over 15 years. When a team of scientists from China visited his farm in February in 2011 and told him about the potentiality of eel fish, he made up his mind to put the idea into action.
Later Badal imported around 100 kgs of eel fries from a Chinese farm for Tk 5 lakh and put them in a tank. He also invited a three-member Chinese team to his farm, who trained Badal for three days.
Badal was also invited by China experts to join a 15-day workshop on eel fish cultivation in July 2011.
"On my return home, I became successful in breeding eel fries and it was for the first time in the country that someone started eel breeding on commercial basis," Badal said.
Around 12 tonnes of fish worth Tk 48 lakh can be produced in a pond stretching over an acre of land, said Badal.
"I could sucessfully produce eels weighing around 250 grams each in my pond," Badal said. "Scientists from Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) in Mymensingh collected 40 fries of eel from my pond for further research," he added.
In the international market, one kg eel fish is sold at Tk 500. The ingredients needed to make the feed for eel is also widely available here, Badal said.
A number of posh hotels in Dhaka import eels for their customers. There is also a ready market for the fish at Uttara in Dhaka. For export, a consignment between 20 and 25 tonnes of fish is required, sources said.
Dr. Durin Akhtar, senior scientific officer and principal investigator (endangered species project) at Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI), said they started comparative studies on China variety of eel fish.
"Agro-3 does natural breeding but we are trying to go for artificial breeding of local eel fish first," said Dr. Durin adding, "we were not successful as we could not collect eggs of country eel," he added.
"Once eel was available in the open water bodies of the country but now it is almost extinct," Durin said.
Dr. Harunur Rashid, a professor of fisheries at Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), said Badal's initiative was first of its kind in Bangladesh.
"Eel has a good prospect for both production and export," he said.