Huge waves and stormy wind in the Bay of Bengal is forcing many fishermen to return to land, with hundreds of fishermen having taken shelter in the rivers and canals connecting to the Bay since yesterday morning.
Several fishermen told the Dhaka Tribune that the rough weather, due to a low pressure in the Bay, have been forced to abandon deep-sea fishing and find shelter. The weather has been especially bad since early yesterday morning, they said.
Md Kamal Ahmed, assistant forest conservator in the East Sundarbans range, said the fishing trawlers, especially those catching Hilsa, have entered the small canals in the Sundarbans to take shelter from the stormy weather.
There is a growing frustration among the fishermen due to the rough weather, as deep-sea fishing is their only way to earn livelihood.
They already have the sea robbers to worry about during the Hilsa catching season – the frequent bad weather only add to the misery, they said.
To add to their woes, the fishermen’s lives are at constant risk due lack of inadequate number of shelters in the coastal areas.
Sources said there are five cyclone centres in the Sundarbans, one of which is in a derelict state. The cyclone shelters were built in the 90s by a non-government development organisation. No renovation of the existing shelters or construction of new one have been undertaken in the past seven years.
The existing shelters can accommodate around 3,000 people during the storms, but the rest of the people have to find shelter in the forest, or in the trawlers and boats.
“Every season, the government earns several crore taka in revenue because of the deep-sea fishermen. But when the storms come, we cannot find shelter to protect ourselves,” a few fishermen lamented.
When contacted in this regard, Amir Hossain Chowdhury, forest officer in the East Sundarbans range, said the life risk during the cyclones can be reduced by building new cyclone shelters and renovating the existing ones.