Flooding hits hundreds of fish farms in 11 Tangail upazilas

As fishes worth around Tk 9 crore were washed away from fish farms in different areas of Tangail district by the recent flooding, fish farmers are now setting nets around their farms to save fishes. The photo was taken from Aloa Bhabani village in Sadar upazila of the district. Photo: Star

The recent flooding by rain-fed rivers washed away fishes from hundreds of fish farms in 11 upazilas under the district, much to the worry of farmers who engaged in the cultivation mostly with loans taken from banks, non-governmental organisations or local money lenders.

As many as 1708 people have been affected as over 986 tonnes of fishes and over 45 lakh fry of 1744 ponds and water bodies covering more than 930 acres of land in the areas were flooded, said fisheries department officials in Tangail.

The total amount of the estimated loss is Tk 8.83 crore -- Tk 5.56 crore for fishes, Tk 59 lakh for fry and Tk 2.68 crore for infrastructural damage, they said.

In the worst affected Nagarpur upazila, 700 tonnes of fishes and 30 lakh fry of around 1000 ponds and water bodies have been washed away.

“Fish worth Tk 3 lakh from of my pond was washed away on August 30 due to increase of water level in nearby Dhaleswari River,” said Sumon Miah, a fish farmer at Mokna in Nagarpur.

Surman Mondol of Bhalkutia under Govindasi union in Bhuapur upazila said fish worth Tk 2 lakh of his pond was washed away by water from the Jamuna River.

"Sirajul Islam of Koriata village under Gopalpur upazila cultivated fish in five ponds comprising 20 bighas of land but fishes worth over Tk 10 lakh were washed away from there. The owner has set up this fish farm taking loans from bank and NGOs and now he is worried about repayment of the loan," said Helal Uddin, caretaker of the ponds.

“Water from the Jhinai River coming through a local canal flooded the area, washing away fish from at least 10 farms in the area,” said local union parishad member Delwar Hossain.

During recent visits to different flood affected areas in the district, this correspondent saw fish farmers trying to save their fishes by encircling their ponds or water bodies with nets and bamboo fences while locals were catching fishes at adjacent natural water bodies.

The affected fish farmers have demanded government support for their survival.

Mohammad Nizam Uddin, district fisheries officer in Tangail, said they have already estimated the losses and informed the higher authorities for taking necessary steps in this regard.