This year’s National Fisheries Week is being celebrated with the theme of ‘Bangabandhu’s Bangladesh’, a country full of safe fish. However, during the breeding season, Asia’s largest Hakaluki Haor is killing fish fry with nets made of mosquito nets and current nets during the fishing week. But due to the punitive action of the fisheries office and the lack of alternative livelihood for the fishermen in the Haor areas, the fishermen are freely catching and selling juvenile fish from the haors with prohibited nets. Various species of fish are decreasing day by day.
There are 238 bills, large and small, in Hakaluki Haor. Most of the bills are in Juri Upazila of Moulvibazar district surrounded by Hakaluki Haor. Huge water bodies are formed here during the monsoon season. At this time, different species of fishes start to lay their eggs here. On this occasion, the local unscrupulous fishermen are managing the fisheries officer and are freely killing the juvenile fish including egg-bearing fish with prohibited fence nets.
It is known that fish are being killed in Haor with fence nets from evening till dawn. All these pona fish are being sent to different parts of the country including Dhaka before nightfall. Recently, Haor hunters have been seen publicly fishing with nets during the day. However, even though the fish are being killed publicly from day till late at night, the fisheries officer is pretending not to see it.
Residents of Haorpar complain that the fishermen are managing the local fisheries office and selling the fish. Fish fry are being sold regularly in every market across the country including Dhaka. But there is no one to see it. Pona fish hunting takes turns from dusk to dawn and again from dawn to afternoon with prohibited fence nets. The length of each fence net is about 2000 yards.
Fish are being killed by huge boats with half a hundred such nets. 25-30 fishermen can be seen in each large net to catch the pona fish. At least 2 to 3 fish are caught with each net. As such, several tons of fish are hunted from this haor every day. The market value of which is at least tk 20 to 25 lakh. There has been mixed reaction from the public regarding the free fishing of pona fish in Haor during the celebration of National Fisheries Week. Although the fish are sent to various places from Kontinala Bridge and Chaumuhani, which are only a few hundred yards away from the Upazila Fisheries Office, they are not noticed by the Fisheries Officer.
It has been found that Fisheries Officer Abu Yusuf has previously served as Assistant Fisheries Officer in Juri Upazila. He was transferred from here because of his involvement in killing fish in Haor. But he came back to this upazila after posting as a fisheries officer. Some fishermen, who did not want to be named, said that through a few people, the fisheries officer Abu Yusuf has to give fish with subscription every day. Refusal to pay the subscription is threatened with prosecution. So we are forced to fish with nets by subsidizing.
Most recently, in the upazila law and order meeting, public representatives made various allegations against him. Even though various media have published news against him on charges of colluding with the fishing gang and illegal transactions with the lease of various bills, he is still in custody.
According to a non-governmental development agency, 55 species of fish in Haor are endangered. Among them, five species of fish including Mahashol, Rita, Nanid, Baghair are critically endangered and another 15 species of fish are in non-critical condition. As a result of the killing of freely spawning fish with fence nets, the breeding grounds of fish are being destroyed on the one hand and the government is losing a huge amount of revenue. People everywhere demanded to stop the use of kona nets, fence nets and current nets as soon as possible.
Upazila Fisheries Officer. Abu Yusuf said, although the operation is scheduled to be conducted on July 25 on the occasion of fishing week, we cannot go due to rain. He denied managing him to hunt fish. District Fisheries Officer Muhammad Mizanur Rahman said regular operations should be conducted on the occasion of Fisheries Week. Actions will be taken to find out about the non-operation against the fishermen.