Native freshwater fishes are going extinct in the water bodies like rivers, bogs, canals due to lack of navigability, use of insecticides and water pollution in Narsingdi.
Pabo catfish, stinging catfish, dwarf gourami, Mola carplet, spiny eel, scribbled goby, snakehead murrel, spotted snakehead are hardly seen in the local fish markers, locals and fishery officers say.
The Meghna, Shitalakkha, old Brahmaputra, Arial Kha, Haridhoa, Paharea among some of the main rivers flowing through the district were once the lifelines for thousands of fishermen, they say.
Those fishermen have now either switched to other professions or are still trying to do so because of poor catch in the rivers, they add.
Lack of navigability and water pollution contributed to the fish depletion in the water bodies, they say, adding that water pollution is caused by excessive use of insecticides and industrial wastages.
Our correspondent visited the Hajipur Jeleparha. Roughly translated, Hajipur Jeleparha Fishermen Village. But he could see neither fishing boats nor nets in the Meghna river flowing by the village.
Almost all the villagers have changed their professions. They earn their living either through rickshaw pulling or through brick-laying work.
A dweller of Hajipur Jeleparha, Mohon Das, says, “I only know how to fish in the river. I can hardly scrape a living by the amount of fish I catch every day. Yet, I go fishing in the river everyday because I do not know any other job.”
Another person of the same village, Indrajit Das, says, “We do not own any net nowadays. Once we had it, but now it is just a past. We just manage our livelihood through working as day labourers.’
An inhabitant of Kauriaparha village situated on the bank of the Meghna river, Rashid Mia, tells the Dhaka Tribune: “Many people could earn their living through fishing in the past, but now they cannot do any longer.”
“Those who had once taken up fishing as profession have now changed their professions because this river does no longer have the amount of fish it once had. It has now turned into a useless river for fishermen.”
He blames industrial wastages and lack of navigability for the fish depletion in the river.
Another inhabitant of the same village, Akkel Ali, says, “I used to live fishing in this river. This river does not have the amount of fish we need for eating, let alone for livelihood.”
Narsinghdi District Fisheries Officer Md Abul Farah tells the Dhaka Tribune: “Fishes lose reproduction capacity due to excessive use of fertilisers and insecticides in the crop fields. Besides this, fish eggs and spawns are ruined in the polluted water.”
“Fish eggs and spawns are ruined due to excessive use of fertilsers and insecticides in the crop field and industrial wastages flowing through the rivers. Besides this, fishes lose productivity due to these reasons,” he says.
The use of current nets is also a major factor behind the depletion of fish habitats, he adds.
Fisheries Officer Md ABul Farah says the government has taken many types of steps like imparting training for cultivating native species of fish in the water bodies like ponds – to protect the native fishes.