At least 5,000 lobster and shrimp farms were washed away in Bagerhat district by the recent unprecedented heavy onrush of river water accompanied by an incessant heavy downpour.
As a result, owners of the fish farms of the district suffered a heavy loss worth about Tk 50 crore, said Dr Khaled Kanak, District Fishery Officer of Bagerhat.
A good number of owners of fish farms lost their capitals and became destitute.
Dr Khaled Kanak also said though the loss of the farmers is yet to be ascertained officially, the affected fish farmers deserve help from both government and non-government organizations in order to make up their loss.
According to Bagerhat District Fishery Office, following the continuous heavy rain accompanied by a tidal surge, the water level of all the rivers of the district like Baleswar, Bhairab, Panguchi, Pashur, and Madhumati suddenly rose at least 3 feet above the danger level.
As a result, water entered into the localities and about 5,000 fish farms of Bagerhat Sadar, Sharankhola, Morrelganj, Mongla, Rampal and Chitalmari were completely inundated. Consequently, fish farmers suffered a heavy loss of cash.
Fish farmers of Morrelganj and Mongla upazilas are the worst affected. 3,300 of Morrelganj upazila and 1,700 farms of Mongla upazila were completely inundated by water surge of the rivers.
It may be mentioned that according to the government assessment, the cyclone Amfan that swept over the coastal areas of the country a few months ago 635 lobster and shrimp farms of the district were washed away. As a result, fish farmers of the district suffered a loss of Tk.2.9 crore.
But according to the assessment of the fish farmers, the loss was more than that. But they could not apprehend that the onrush of the river water will cause so much damage to their fish farms.
Mobinul Islam of Rampal upazila said the cyclone Amfan completely washed away a fish farm on a plot of land of 500 bighas belonging to his family and they suffered a loss of more than Tk. 2 lakh. Later on they re-started fish cultivation by borrowing from others.
Fakir Mohitul Islam Suman, President of the Fish Farmers' Association of Bagerhat district said, they were trying to make up the loss caused by cyclone Amfan and when the farmers started to sell lobsters, shrimps and other fish cultivated in their fish farms, they were completely washed away by the heavy onrush of river water accompanied by an incessant downpour.
Dr. Khaled Kanak, District Fishery Officer of Bagerhat said about 5,000 fish farms of six upazilas of the district were badly affected by the onrush of river water and they have started work in the fields in order to assess the loss of money suffered by the fish farmers of the district.
The Fishery Officer added lobsters and shrimps were cultivated in some 78,000 fish farms on 67,000 hectares of lands in the district this year while 16,000 tons of shrimps and 15 tons of lobsters were produced in the district in the last fiscal year.
In Sylhet, over 7,682 fish farmers in Sylhet division are facing a major loss of approximately Tk 62 crore due to the ongoing flash flood in the region.
According to Sylhet Division Fisheries Office, persistent heavy rainfall upstream has flooded the local haors and rivers at least 10,212 ponds in Sylhet, Sunamganj, and Habiganj washed away Tk 62 crore worth of fish.
The investments of hundreds of fish farmers have gone in vain and they are suffering huge losses by these sudden floods.
3518 tons of fish from 1155 ponds have been washed away by the floodwater, causing a huge loss to 871 farmers in Sylhet district.
In Habiganj, 257.4 tons of fish from 392 ponds have been washed away causing heavy loss to 327 farmers.
2, 984.62 tons of fish from 8, 665 ponds belonging to 6, 589 farmers have been washed away in Sunamganj.
The affected fish farmers claimed that the loss would be over Tk 62 crore in the 10,212 ponds on 2.63 hectares of land, said Sylhet Divisional Fisheries Deputy Officer Zillur Rahman.
Senior Assistant Director of Sylhet Fisheries department Ahsan Habib Khan said they have taken steps to recover the losses.