<i>Tk 5cr fishes die in over 60ponds due to severe cold</i>

Mohit Talukdar, managing director of GM Aquaculture Ltd, watches in despair the fishes, brought dead from 34 ponds of the farm at Kulaikuri in Adamdighi upazila under Bogra district, after a massive virus attack on the ponds amid severe cold wave during the last couple of weeks.Photo: STAR

Fishes worth around Tk 5 crore died of viral attack and 'cold injuries' in over 60 ponds at Kulaikuri in Adamdighi area of the district during the last couple of weeks.
"Fishes of 34 ponds in our farm on 43 bighas of land started dying due to virus attack amid severe cold and dense fog persisting for weeks. So far, fishes worth Tk 3 crore died," Mohit Talukdar, managing director of GM Aqua Culture Limited and Fish farm, told this correspondent.
"A kind of spur and dot appeared in the fishes' body and they eventually died. Our attempt to save the fishes by supplying water in these ponds from shallow tube wells proved fruitless," he said.
"We have never seen such massive death of fishes in the ponds of the area," said Rimi Khatun, a worker of the fish farm.
Fishes in around 30 other ponds in the area also died during the last several days.
A number of farms in Adamdighi area are engaged in large-scale cultivation of different kinds of fishes, especially pangas and hi-breed koi, for the last 10/12 years, and they supply fishes to different parts of the country, in addition to meeting the demand of the local markets.
Urging immediate remedial measures to address the ongoing problem, fish farmer Abdul Mojid said, "Fish cultivation is our traditional business but this new kind of virus attack has appeared as a nuisance for us."
Akram Hossain, an agriculturist of the Department of Agriculture Extension in the district, said virus attack marked by appearance of mosses, caused the massive death of fishes in the area.
On the other hand, District Fisheries officer Khirid Kumar Paul told this correspondent, "We do not think that it is an incident of virus attack. Cold injuries, caused by fall in temperature for days, led to the death of the fishes. Cultivation of excess fishes in small ponds also added to the situation."
"The incident happened due to severe cold and imbalance of temperature," said Atia Taieba, Adamdighi upazila fisheries officer.
Ratan Kumar Kundu, assistant fisheries officer of the upazila, said they are distributing leaflets and conducting awareness programme in the area, suggesting the fish cultivators to lift the cold water from the pond and fill it up again with fresh water to balance the temperature in the ponds.