Illegal spawns collection going on unabated
Publish : 27 Jun 2016, 22:55
Illegal collection of spawns and mother prawns is going on defying the government law in Shala, Pashur and Baleshwar rivers adjoining Sundarbans coastal area. According to local sources, though catching prawns and spawns is an offence, the practice continues unabated affecting the fish yield adversely.A section of unscrupulous fishermen are doing the business with the help of some forest officials and members of law enforcers.Thousands of fishermen become busy for catching fish in the rivers with current nets during the low-tide in the watercourses.The indiscriminate catching has triggered acute scarcity of seeds. A group of traders engage poor fishermen in the work to earn hefty profit, the sources said.The collected spawns are dispatched to several areas of the country where the demand of seeds is high, said local fishermen.The fishermen engaged in seed collection are least aware of the fact that the act is illegal. Besides, they do not seem to realise that in the process, they are destroying their own livelihood.A mother prawn has a capacity to carry about 50,000 to 80,000 prawn seeds during the breeding period. As a result, the demand of the mother prawns is high from June to August. The government prohibited the catching of baby and mother prawns from the sea, river and other water bodies.The fisheries officials admitted the prevalence of unlawful practice and pleaded helplessness to curb the trend.The department would shortly launch a campaign to make the fishermen aware of the damage they are causing by collecting prawn seeds. The department personnel have also requested the representatives of traditional inland and sea-going fishermen to convince the people to refrain from such exercise, the official said.Dr Sheikh Faridul Islam, chairman of Save the Sundarbans, said: “If the illegal collection of spawns is going on, the rivers in the coastal will be without fish within a decade.”Md Sydul Islam, divisional officer of East Sundarbans Forest Office, said: “For the poor fishermen engaged in seeds collection, the income generated out of it is a bonus. The traders rake in profit, while the exercise of collecting spawns and mother prawns is causing irreparable damage to the fish yield.”He said: ". The department doesn't have the manpower to keep tabs on illegal activities. We have requested members of law enforcers to help us in conducting raids."Mongla Coastguard East Zone Commander Captain Mehedi Masud said: “We have received reports of unlawful trade of spawn and mother prawns.”"We are ready to assist the fisheries department to curb illegal trade. If the department provides us tip-off, we will conduct raids to nab the culprits,” he said.