The Hilsa season is set to end. But fishermen in Patharghata Upazila of the district are not getting expected Hilsas. According to local sources, Hilsas are not available in sea estuaries, deep sea and rivers. Coastal fishers have been frustrated. They are passing days in tension.
While talking with this correspondent of The Daily Observer, a number of fishers said, Hilsa catching in the deep sea was taking place thinly in the beginning of the season for few days. But now the arrival of Hilsa has almost been missing despite swelling of sea and river levels, triggered by frequent rain. The unexpectedly less catching of Hilsa is not only affecting life of the fishers, but the coastal economy is also getting affected. It was told by officials. According to local sources, about 50,000 fishing families are passing days in hardship in the upazila.
For not getting expected Hilsas, fishers are also facing pressure from banks, NGOs and Dadan traders to pay their loans and instalments. A visit to Patharghata Fish Landing Station found just reached 40-50 fishing trawlers from deep sea. Adequate fishes were seen in only one/two boats while others were seen almost empty. Small trawlers are not getting so fishes. Traders were seen passing idle time by sitting at the fishing port. Traders said, even one-third trading of fishes is not taking place daily. Fishers Ruhul Amin, Nurul Islam, Chhogir Mia and others said, “In the deep sea, one/two trawlers are getting Hilsas. Many of us can’t lift even the fuel costs. We can’t pay Dadan money of trawler owners and traders. We are in uttered problem.”
President of Barguna District Trawlers Owners Association Golam Mostafa Chowdhury said, weather is going rough at sea halting fishers to go to the deep sea. He demanded stopping entry of foreign fishers in the Bangladesh territory during the Hilsa ban time. Unscrupulous fishers are catching fishes by banned nets including Behundi, Gorah, Bandha and Ghoup in the Bay of Bengal estuary and rivers, he added. He further said, if these banned nets are not stopped, the Hilsa production is likely to decrease.
Patharghata Upazila Senior Fisheries Officer Jayunta Kumar Opu said, it seems due to climate change, Hilsas are not available. Besides, it may be that due to polluted water and navigability crisis in the south coast of the Bay of Bengal, it has been the Hilsa crisis, he added. He further said, there are Hilsas in the deep sea. If it is heavy rain, Hilsas are likely to appear in the coastal rivers, he maintained. Executive Director of Trust, an NGO, Mirza Shahidul Islam Khaled said, “Our fishers don’t use any modern technology for fishing in the deep sea. They drop nets on assumption. They spend a long time but get less fishes. But foreign fishing vessels use different modern technological tools. They can detect availabilities of fishes in bottom of the sea.”
“Our sea-going fishing trawlers need to be modernised and fishers need to be inspired,” he added. Fisheries Scientist and Researcher of the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute Dr Md Anisur Rahman said, in the coming full moon, there is a possibility of Hilsa arrival. During the full moon, river levels go up and then fishers will get increased Hilsas, he added.