The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Bagerhat

Some 1,39,206 shrimp enclosures have, so far, been brought under registration in five districts of the southern region.

After the registration, shrimp cultivation is going on in full swing on 1,83,304 hectares in Bagerhat, Khulna, Jessore, Satkhira and Narail districts.

Of the total, 46,499 enclosures were registered in Bagerhat, 47,084 in Khulna, 25,730 in Satkhira, 15,008 in Jessore and 4,885 enclosures in Narail.

Deputy Director of Khulna Divisional Fisheries Department Joydeb Kumar Biswas said the government made registration of the shrimp enclosures mandatory in 2007 after a European Union delegation, while visiting the country's shrimp enclosures, suggested for it to maintain quality of shrimps.

Official sources said different foreign countries rejected a number of consignments of shrimps several times due to its low quality.

It was not impossible to find out the enclosures from which the low quality shrimps were exported but after registration, it has become easier now, the sources said.

At present, there are 32,000 shrimp depots in different places in the region, officials said. According to the Khulna Shrimp Quality Control office, farmers of the region earned foreign currencies worth Tk 23 crore by exporting 40,000 mts of shrimp abroad during the last fiscal year.