Buried in borrowings

Fishing expenditures have gone up in Rajshahi due to the recent hike in fuel prices, lowering the daily income of fishers in the division by at least Tk 75 during this season.

Fishers said they burn around five litres of diesel on average to run boats each day. As diesel prices rose by Tk 15 per litre, the additional Tk 75 for five litres is coming out of their pocket.

The fishers said they were forced to borrow more as a result, while most  are yet to recover from the pandemic's fallout.

During recent visits to Char Satbaria, Noboganga and Berpara areas along Padma river in Rajshahi district, this correspondent met 30 fishers, who informed that they mostly buy diesel from local vendors on credit at a rate of Tk 85 per litre.

They said some sellers have stopped selling diesel to many of them, as they failed to pay dues on time.

At Char Satbaria, fisher Mustakim Billah said he catches fish with 21 other fishers in five boats, which require a total of 15 litres of diesel every day.

In the last two weeks, they bought diesel on a credit of Tk 19,125 and caught only a nine-kilo pangas, which was sold for Tk 7,000 in auctions.

"Will we share it [money] among ourselves or pay off the diesel price?" asked Mustakim.

Their burden of borrowing increased by Tk 3,375, he added.

"Many of us already left fishing and started pulling rickshaws. But the job of pulling rickshaws has become difficult," Mustakim  said.

Mahbub Hossain, a fisher in Berpara, said a group of fishers, including him, spend Tk 510 for diesel per day and earn around Tk 1,000 catching small fish.

After spending on food during the day-long fishing, they can barely earn Tk 200 each in a day.

"The fall in income has forced me

to borrow," he said, adding that he accumulated a debt of Tk 45,000, while another fisher he knows has debts amounting to Tk 2 lakh.

"A rise in fishing expenditures only confirms that riverine fish have become posh dishes," said Prof ABM Mohsin of Department of Fisheries at Rajshahi University, implying that the price might go "beyond the reach of the middle and low-income group of people."

Alok Kumar Saha, deputy director of Department of Fisheries, said he has informed high officials regarding the fishers' plight.

According to the Department of Fisheries, eight districts of Rajshahi division have around 1.40 lakh fishers, and 70 percent of them catch fish from 33 rivers, supplying 20 percent of the division's total annual fish output of five lakh tonnes.