Hilsa Fishing: Unlucky in rivers, fishers counting days to go to sea
Frustration is growing among the fishers of coastal region due to lack of hilsa fish in rivers.
Even though the ban on fishing at sea expired on Friday, their luck is yet to change as they couldn't go to sea for the first two days after the ban due to the cautionary signal-3 at sea by the Met office.
Catching hilsa requires much expenditure, the anglers said, as they need to go deep into the river on heavy trawlers, with fishing nets and a skilled crew. In most cases, the anglers take out loans to fund their expeditions.
Though the costs remain the same, the lack of hilsa in rivers means the anglers of Barishal region are returning almost empty handed. Meanwhile, their loan interest amounts are going higher by the day.
"A single trip requires at least Tk 2,000, but we cannot earn half of this money back as we cannot get sufficient catches," said Jasim Majhi of Tulatuli Bazar area of Bhola Sadar upazila. "I am now bearing a loan of over Tk 10,000," he said.
Over 200 others in the area are facing a similar situation, added Jashim.
"Our team of six went deep in the river (Meghna) two weeks ago for hilsa fishing. But we only caught such a small amount of fish, we can barely sell it for Tk 600," said Alauddin Majhi, Jasim's neighbour.
"We don't want to go to the larger rivers anymore. Rather, we now go to small rivers (Bishkhali, Khakbon) to catch other types of fish," said Harun Mia of Barguna's Patharghata upazila.
Along with them, this correspondent spoke to over a dozen of anglers at Lohalia village and Rajguru village of Barishal's Babuganj upazila and heard almost similar responses.
According to researchers and fisheries officials, high temperature and lack of rain are the major reasons behind such disappearance of the fish. However, they said they expect the situation to improve soon, especially due to the rainfall of the last few days.
But some anglers put the blame on the government's second ban on hilsa fishing in deep sea for the crisis. Beginning in March 20, the ban expired on Friday.
Anglers said due to the ban at sea, they are forced to try out their luck in the rivers despite its dwindling fish population.
But the government officials and researchers denied the blame and said hilsa will get a chance to breed and grow up well due to the ban. Of note, the first ban of the year was imposed on hilsa sanctuaries in rivers from March 1 to Apirl 30.
Contacted, Anisur Rahman, chief scientific officer of Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, said the situation will improve as soon as it rains and temperatures drop.
Meanwhile, Anisur Rahman Talukder, deputy director of Barishal Divisional Fisheries Office, said hilsa will be available from August to October as the fish will have matured by that time.
Though some anglers believed their luck would change as the ban on fishing at sea expired on Friday, the first two days after the ban yielded nothing as they couldn't even go to the sea due to the cautionary signal-3, said Masum Bepari of Moipur Matsya Kalyan Samiti in Kuakata.
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