Wednesday | 15 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
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Wednesday | 15 January 2025 | Epaper

Local fishes on verge of extinction in Pabna

Published : Saturday, 8 October, 2022 at 12:00 AM  Count : 660
Naresh Madhu
PABNA, Oct 7: Fresh water fishes are disappearing sharply from the district. Most favoured fishes, such as climbing catfish, catfish, stinging catfish, butterfish, tengra and gulsha, are not seen abundantly in local bazaars. The demand of such local fishes is remaining unmet.
To address this situation, an initiative is in the offing by the Department of Fisheries (Dof) in the district to produce these fishes through commercial farming.
DoF sources said, the extinction of the native fish species has been caused due to climate change.
District Fisheries office is encouraging farmers in cultivating high-yielding fish with a target to produce 71,450 million metric tons (mt) of fish by 2023.
Farmers are benefiting from cultivating high-yielding varieties of carp, climbing catfish, stinging cat fish, butterfish, Tengra and Gulsha.
According to sources at the Department of Fisheries (DoF)-Pabna, there are 212 lakes and wetlands, 11 rivers, and 106 canals in nine upazilas of the district. The number of private ponds is  39,102, 762 fish farms in paddy fields, 233 fish farms in floodplains, 635 fish farms in Chiknai, 440 fish farms in cages. Government hatcheries and private hatcheries are eight while fish shelters are 31.
The number of fish farmers in these reservoirs is 21,454 while the number of fishermen cooperative societies is 232. The number of registered fishermen is 33,402. In 2021-2022 fiscal year, the fish production was 69,564 mt and demand was 51,732 mt.  
The surplus fish production in the district was 17,832 mt. Pabna District is known to be a major fish production centre thanks to Chalanbeel.
Huge volumes of local fishes are collected from all these beels every year. Some 10,000 tonnes of  Punti, Tenngra, Shoal, catfish, Koi, Shing, Taki, Khalisha, Gajar, Ruhi, Katla, Boal, Ayur, Prawn, Hilsa, and Nandel are produced naturally from these water bodies.
District DoF Officer Abul Kalam Azad said, there is a favourable environment for fish farming in the district; wide areas of Chalanbeel in Chatmohar and Gajnar in Sujanagar maintain short water in the dry season; so, fish farming does not increase in these areas; once the fish of the beel was the source of livelihood for fishermen living around it; throughout the whole year, fishes would catch fishes in the beel and sell their catches at local bazaars.
Farmer Ikram Ali Sikdar, 58, of  Failjana Village in Chatmohar Upazila said, "Till July 30 in 2022, I have earned Tk 4 lakh from fish farming in two ponds of two acres. In the remaining five months, another Tk 6 lakh will be earned from Koi, Shing, and Gulsha and Tangra. Fishes can be cultivated three times a year in the same pond. Last year, I earned Tk 16 lakh by cultivating these fishes in five ponds of five acres. Koi, Shing, Gulsha and Tangra are more profitable than carp. Production is almost three times higher."
Md Yadul Sikdar, 35, said, "I do fish farming. Also we catch fish from different ponds and sell them in bazaars. Freshwater fishes in our area taste very good. So there is a huge demand for local fishes at haats and bazaars of Faridpur, Vangura, and other local markets. Local fishes are selling at a higher price by Tk 10 -20 per kg. By selling local fishes, we can also bring some profit to our house."
Echoing him, Abdur Rahman Biswas, 60, of Haripur Village, said, "I was used to cultivate carp fish before. Now we are cultivating high-yielding varieties, such as climbing fish, stinging catfish, butterfish and Tengra following DoF advice. I can make profit three times more than carp fish. I am selling fish from the pond three times in a year. In this type of fish farming, money keeps coming in all year round."
New entrepreneur Sadek Ahmed, 35, of Ulpur Village in Sadar Upazila said, "I see that Ikram Ali Sikdar of Failjana Village has made a good profit by cultivating such freshwater fishes for the last two years. So I became interested to cultivate such fishes in my new five-acre enclosure next year. I hope I will be able to bring in a large amount of profit."
District DoF Officer Abul Kalam Azad said, "We're training fish farmers. Along with that, I am advising them on fishing. Going to the farm and observing the condition of the fish, I am giving various decisions. Besides, they are given various materials."
Marginal communities are being involved in fish cultivation in government reservoirs through cooperative societies, he added. "We strive to achieve the target by increasing fish production through the maximum utilisation of wetlands," he further said.
The impact of wind has destroyed the buoyancy of the huge beel (water body) in the region, he said, adding, in the dry season, there is hardly any water in the pond, and that is why the natural production of fish is disrupted.






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