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10,000 forest families ready to enter Sundarban as ban goes

Published : Sunday, 1 September, 2024 at 12:00 AM  Count : 229
M Zillur Rahman
SATKHIRA, Aug 31: After three months, the ban on entering Sundarban will  end on Saturday (Aug 31).
 
The entrance to the Sundarban will be open from Sunday ( Sept 1).
 
Fishermen and tourists can visit Sundarban with valid permission.

Now, as the day of waiting to enter the forest is over, the effort to repair boats and nets has begun; if everything goes well, foresters will be able to go to the Sundarban from September 1 to catch fish and crabs.

Information received from Gabura, Burigoalini, Munshiganj, Kaikhali and Ramzannagar areas of Shyamnagar Upazila of Satkhira revealed, foresters are busy repairing old boats, torn nets and painting trawlers on the banks of Chuna, Chunkuri, Malanch and Kholpetua rivers adjacent to the Sundarban. 

About 10,000 fishing families in these areas earn their livelihood by catching fish and crabs in the Satkhira Range of the Sundarban. 

As the long wait of the people who make a living by catching fish and crabs is coming to an end, there is a festive mood all around, with smiles on their faces.

Sixty-year old Hanif Gazi of Burigoalini area in Shyamnagar Upazila has been involved in fishing since childhood. He has many experiences in catching fish and crabs in rivers of the Sundarban. 

He said, he has been involved in fishing in  the Sunderban since his childhood. "I am in this profession till now," he added. 

He further said, "The fishing remains prohibited for two seasons yearly. Then we will have to do other work to run families. Before the start of fishing, we take loan to repair the boat and buy nets and go to the river. But catching fish often depends on luck. When you go to the river, you often find fish, and sometimes you return empty-handed."

Waheed Ghazir, 60, of Nildumur area said, "We refrain from fishing if there is a ban. But, the family does not survive with the help given by the government." 

"That's why I will have to do other work," he added.

He further said, the  government's drive to protect fish and crabs in the Sundarban needs to be tougher and stop illegal poachers from entering the Sundarban, with a total ban on the use of nets and current nets; and then the possibility of getting fish and crab in the rivers of Sundarban will increase.

Abu Hasan Sardar, 45, Jamal Hossain, 35, and Rafiqul Sardar, 40, of the same area were seen working on repairing nets and boats.

They said, their families are going through a lot of trouble as they stopped from collecting fish and crabs in the Sundarban for three months. Because they can't do any other work except catching fish and crabs.

"Each boat has two to five fishermen. Our families depend on getting fishes. If fishes are found, our families will run well, "they added.

According to sources at the Department of Forest (DoF), in order to protect the natural diversity and increase the reproduction of animals and fish, a ban on fish, crab fishing and tourist entry was imposed on rivers and streams of the Sundarban for 92 days (June 1-Aug31).

 Earlier, crab fishing was closed in January and February as the breeding season. Then people who depended on the Sundarban fish and crab fishing were in dire need.

According to the Satkhira Range Office sources-Sundarban, 2,900 BLC (licence certificates) have been issued from four stations of the Satkhira Range from July 1 to 31.

Burigoalini Station Officer ABM Habibur Rahman said,  usually, two to six people in a boat enter the Sundarban to catch fish or crabs; fish and crab fishing will be allowed again from September 1; and by doing this, activity will return among the fishermen.

Abdul Halim, former general secretary of Sundarban Trawler Owners Association, said, more than 5,000 trawlers operate in the Satkhira Range area of the Sundarban depending on the tourists. 

In Sundarban from June to August, fishing and crab fishing are stopped as well as tourist entry; at this time, about 1,000 of their trawler drivers and labourers are unemployed. Their families  run in hardship by borrowing money.

Journalist Piyush Baulia Pintu, who works on the Sundarban, said, fishing and crabs are closed in the Sundarban for about five and a half months in a year; the Fisheries Department closes fishing in the sea for 65 days from May 20 to July 23 every year during the fish breeding season. 

A 86 kilogram of rice per head is allotted to sea fishermen.

There is no benefit or allocation for those who earn their livelihood by catching fish and crabs in the rivers and streams of Sundarban, he added. 

He demanded allocation for unemployed fishermen and bawalis.

MKM Iqbal Hossain Chowdhury, assistant conservator of Forests (ACF) of the Satkhira Range-West Sundarban, said, after three months, fishermen and bawalis will be given entry pass (permit) to Sundarban from September 1. 

Owners of trawlers transporting tourists along with fishermen are preparing for this in advance.



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