The New Nation - Internet Edition

Bdnews24.com, Sirajganj

Fish resources of Chalan Beel are fast depleting as groups of insensitive and unaware fisherman have been harvesting mother fishes, fish fries and fingerlings indiscriminately.

The damaging farming in the greater Chalan Beel area goes on in defiance of government rules for sale in local bazaars and kitchen markets on both sides of the Sirajganj-Natore-Banpara highway.

Once celebrated as a nursery-cum-storehouse of about 175 species of local sweet-water fishes, Chalan Beel, the largest beel (big pond with static water) in the country, has either totally lost or very fast losing about 55 of the pride species.

The species include koi, bheda or royna, bain, pabda, shar-punti, rithha, baghair, chital, foli, shoal, gajaar, shing, magur and taki .

Some local influential people and touts are engaged in promoting the harmful harvesting fishes in the rainy season when fishes breed.

The local poor and marginal fishermen fall victims to the enticement of the greedy plunderers and hand over their bounties in exchange of peanuts. They are unaware of the great damage they are wreaking in the process of earning a quick buck.

The local government fishery offices say that the apparently unharmed 120 species of fishes are also facing threats of extinction unless some measures are urgently put in place to reverse the trend. The vast water body covers 11 upazilas of Sirajganj, Pabna and Natore districts and at least 3,500 smaller water bodies form the great beel covering 2561.65 hectares of land area.

Nearly 1.5 lakh fishermen earn their livelihood fishing the Chalan Beel waters round the year.

In Chalan Beel villages of Khalkula, Dabirganj, Mahishluti, Naogaon, Magura-Binod, Talom, Baruhash, Mannan Nagar, Hamkuria in Taras upazila under Sirajganj, fishermen were indiscriminately harvesting small fishes, defying a government ban on fishing.

They used restricted small-mesh nets such as suti , khora, current and draw nets, and claimed they were fishing after managing the local Union Parishad chairmen and members.

At Mohishluti and Mannan Nagar bazaars in Taras and Salanga under Ullapara Upazila, bdnews24.com correspondent saw local fishermen selling huge volumes of breeding fishes, such as climbing fish, sheet fish, shoal fish, buterfish, mackerel and others freely.

Md Yasin Ali, the president of Mohishluti market, said, "Many fishermen come and sell fish here every day. They bring breeding fishes too, but they wouldn't pay heed to us if we told them not to catch and sell fish fries and fingerlings."

Md Shariful Islam, Taras upazila fishery officer, said they were only four staffers there and it was very difficult for them to patrol and monitor about one-third area of Chalan Beel.

They need at least 20 personnel and five engine-boats to do the job expected of them, he added.

Md Afzal Hossain, Taras police chief, said, "Whenever the upazila fishery people ask for our help while patrolling the beel areas, we accompany them.

"Recently, we seized a suti-net, but failed to arrest anyone as the culprits had vanished sensing our arrival."