Mindless fishing threatens B'baria fish resources

Fishermen use giant nets to trap all kinds of fishes that come for food and shelter at 'fake sanctuaries' made by callous fishermen in the Titas River in Brahmanbaria district. PHOTO: STAR

Mindless fishing in the Titas River and several vast water bodies in the district poses threat to fish resources in the area.

Every year the fisheries department creates several sanctuaries at different points of the Titas to ensure safe breeding of various fishes but they have not done it this year, officials said.

However, following the official method of such sanctuary, the fishermen are setting a number of fake fish sanctuaries in the river and catching fishes there indiscriminately, said Md Shamsuzzaman, principal of Shalgaon Kalisima School and College, standing beside the river.

"Urged by the need to catch more fish to feed the family, we set fake fish sanctuary locally called daam, with branches of trees and water hyacinth in vast areas of the river. As the fishes come for shelter and food, they are netted soon. Fishing in this way will continue till dry season when we will remove the daams," said fisherman Porimol Das of Gusaipur village.

"Once we got sufficient amounts of big fishes with borojal (very large nets). But gone are the days. And so, we have to catch smaller fishes to earn enough to maintain the family. For this purpose the holes of the nets have been made smaller," said Hori Chandra Das of Gukarnaghat village.

With fishes, especially big ones, becoming less available, the prices are getting high.

Unplanned setting of innumerable nets and fake fish sanctuaries in the river also hampers smooth plying of launches and speedboats. 

If the fishermen continue such mindless fishing, the water bodies in the district will run out of fishes, said Md Nurul Amin, a freedom fighter.

Contacted, District Fishery Officer Md Nurul Islam said they have taken steps to remove all fake fish sanctuaries from the water bodies and seize all illegal nets.

"We have started distributing fish fry worth Tk 20 lakh in all nine upazilas under the district to increase fishes and taken another project to release fish fry in open water bodies here," he said.