Hilsa finds itself in troubled waters

Hilsa is a delicious delicacy for food lovers as much as sand bars are an attraction for adventurers, and both meet at a similar point in the Meghna river in Bhola. But things might not be so rosy as adverse things are happening here.

Shoals or chars (sand bars) are rising due to the impact of climate change, as well as thoughtless and unscientific actions by people. Hilsa is diverting their course after being obstructed by these shoals, as well as laying eggs in other territories. Hilsa fries are leaving the territories and gathering at shoals in search of food, where other fish fries also congregate.

As the schools of fish fries gather at shoals, fishermen hired by dishonest fish traders rush in and indiscriminately start catching prohibited fish fries at shoals and adjacent rivers with banned and harmful nets. Big and mid-sized fishes also get caught along with other varieties of fishes, aquatic animals and plants. Once they are caught, they die there. Chapila, jatka and hilsa fries are not spared either. All these are handed over to the wholesale fish traders.

Experts have more such stories to tell. Readers, you can learn more about the destruction of hilsa through these investigations run by Prothom Alo.

Molla Imdadullah, director of the Hilsa Development and Management Project at the Department of Fisheries, told Prothom Alo hilsa is not being caught from the rivers during monsoon as much as desired, mainly because rainfall pattern is changing due to climate change. Rain does not occur throughout the rainy season while unexpected heavy rainfall can occur suddenly.

Hilsa lays eggs if adequate rainfalls occur in the Bengali calendar month Ashar (April-May), but this is not happening. If mother hilsa doesn't have eggs they do not come to river from the sea. Hilsa does not lay eggs due to excessive drought, extreme heat, as well as abnormal water temperature and salinity. River current and depth are also related. Hilsa also understands well when the environment of the river is favourable for releasing eggs. Excessive rainfall, however, is not harmful to hilsa.

Molla Imdadullah said migratory routes of hilsa from sea to river have been filled up; shoals also rose. If the route of hilsa is obstructed, how they will come? Hilsa needs at least 10-12 feet depth to move, but silt has decreased the depth of water to 4-5 feet at various estuaries.

According to fishermen, there are numerous shoals in Meghna river from the Gas Field area at the sea estuary to Chandpur in the north. A similar scenario is also seen in the Tentulia river. Fishermen claimed less hilsa are arriving in rivers due to these shoals.

Prothom Alo spoke to 10-12 old fishermen at Forest Bazar of Dhalchar union in Char Fesson upazila of Bhola on 6 June They said nowadays rainy season is delayed much more than previous rainy seasons. Less clouds are formed, temperature also differs. Heat persists despite rains.

Fisherman Md Shamsul Haque Majhi, 72, from Dhalchar, catches fish at the estuary. He said previously rains started at the beginning of Ashar and continued till Aswhin month, decreasing salinity in river water and cooling the weather, Nowadays less rainfall occurs even in the rainy season and heavy rainfalls at the end of the season, thus, salinity does not reduce and hilsa does not arrive in the rivers. Other fishermen echoed him.

While travelling to Majher Char in the Meghna river via Tulatuli Kheyaghat of Dhania union of Bhola Sadar upazila, shoals were seen from the north-eastern part of Kachia and Daulatkhan Madanpur unions of Sadar upazila to Charmunshi in the southwest to the south of Neamatpur, as well as near the Hazari Char. Narrow canals, known as longa, were also seen in between.

Twenty to 22 fishermen were seen catching fish with pitano jal, a type of fishing net. Fishermen employed by Madanpur union parishad chairman Nasir Uddin and Dhania union parishad chairman Monirul Islam were also seen catching fish during the last dry season with paijal, another type of fishing net.

Both pitano jal and paijal are banned for fishing. These nets mainly catch hilsa and other fish fries and hardly catch big fish.

Local fishermen said sometimes hilsa drifts to the area of fishermen using illegal pitano jal, and then the latter chase and beat the former to drive them out from their respective area.

Visiting the Tulatuli fishing jetty on the morning of 29 September, fishermen were seen coming to sell fish. They were filling the crates of wholesalers with hilsa of different sizes including jatka, medium and big size. Fishermen and wholesale traders said these jatka were caught in pitano jal.

Fishermen pointed to the boxes of several wholesale traders. One of them said, “Look, there is jal-savar, which consists of a fishing trawler, nets and other necessary equipment; it caught all jatka worth about Tk 150,000.”

While passing through the Betua launch ghat, shoals were seen across several kilometres of the area 8 No char, Mahishar char, Sabek Urichar and 12 No char in the east of Meghna river in Dhaligaurnagar union of Lalmohan upazila. Various types of nets including pitano jal, mosquito nets and khorchi jal are being thrown in the river for fishing. Leaders from chars receive money for the use of mosquito nets while local leaders arrange khorchi jal fishing nets.

Baskets filled with jatka were seen being unloaded from the boats to the jetty. Other smaller fish were also seen. When asked, fishermen said that fishermen from Noakhali, Lakshmipur, Sandwip, Hatia and Chittagong use banned nets for fishing in rivers and sea estuaries.

General fishermen could not go near them. Similar troubles also occur in the sea. Fishermen cast nets and then wait for hilsa to be caught, meanwhile trawling vessels tear through the nets, and when fishermen protest, they are met with hot water from the vessels.

Metal drums, plastic containers and poles were seen across Meghna river and sea estuary. Locals said these nets are known as bindi jal or behundi jal. Since the mouth of this net is open, it swallows everything. The tail of this net is triangle-shaped, which is known as duraira.

These nets are set up in the river using rods, sacks of bricks, bamboo poles and so on. Whatever enters the nets cannot escape. The fishermen empty the nets twice a day into their boats. Coming ashore, they sell the large fish in the market and the wholesale hubs. There are also the hilsa jatka, other small fish and fries. The fishermen either discard these or dry these to make shutki.

Th fishermen say they set up these traps in the shallow waters of the river. But they actually set up these in the deeper waters at the river mouths too, preventing the fish to enter the river.

Project director Molla Imdadullah said young hilsa (jatka) and other fish fries stay in water 3 to 4 feet deep. They cannot take the pressure of deep water. That is why during high tide, the fish fries take shelter near the submerged sandbars. Then when the tides go out, the unscrupulous people catch these in their nets.

He said at the estuary, Patuakhali's Sonar Char, Bhola's Dhalchar, Noakhali's Nijhum Dwip, Chattogram's Sandwip, are routes for hilsa. Large behundu nets are being set up in these areas. Illegal nets are also being set up at the Meghna-Tentulia rivers too. When he was posted in Bhola, he had ensured that the illegal nets were destroyed.

The behundi nets are most harmful for the jatka or small hilsa. Then there is the khuti (pole) or kharchi net, then the pitano nets, the moshari (mosquito net) or char gherajal, ghen paijal, ghunti nets, kona nets, dhara nets and last of the current nets. It will take a few years for a current net to destroy the amount of jatka that is destroyed in a behundi net. A pitano net does the harm or a thousand current nets. The harmful and illegal nets are not laid by any poor fishermen. Even the jatka caught by the poorer fishermen are of larger size. It is the nets of the richer and powerful that is destroying the hilsa eggs and fry as well as other fish fry.

Bhola's fishermen say, other than illegal nets, it is the extraction of sand from Maghna-Tentulia rivers that cause low catch of hilsa in full season. They formed a large human chain in hilsa last month, demanding a halt to sand extraction. They have placed memos in this regard several times to the district administration too.

According to Bhola district administration's revenue department, for two years the district administration has been leasing out balu mohals (sand deposits) in Meghna river in four packages. The lessees can extract 41,826,320 cubic feet (4 crore 18 lakh 26 thousand 320 cubic feet) of sand ever year.

However, a spot visit reveals that alongside legal sand extraction, thousands and thousand of cubic feet of sand is lifted illegally in the deep of night from South Meghna and Tentulia rivers in Bhola. The administration often seizes their equipment, vessels and people and imposes fines on them.

General secretary of Bhola district fishermen's association Abul Kasem Majhi says Meghna and Tentulia rivers are the main breeding grounds and nurseries for hilsa. How can sand be extracted for areas where hilsa eggs are hatched and the fry grows?

The fisheries ministry has reportedly issued letters to the departments concerned to bring an end to sand extraction during the hilsa breeding season and when the jatka are still growing.

*This report appeared in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Hasanul Banna