The most modern fish landing centre of the country at Firingee Bazar in the port city is lying idle round the year.

Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation (BFDC) developed the centre under Fish Landing, Preservation and Distribution Facilities Project on the south bank of the river Karnaphuli at Monoharkhali (locally known as Bridgeghata) in 1994. The Tk 52.66 crore project was implemented with the financial and technical assistance of Japan to maintain quality of fishes and ensure proper price for the fishermen. The project was also aimed at developing an improved supply and distribution system.

The centre went into operation in April 1994, which was inaugurated by the then prime minister Khaleda Zia on July 2 the same year.

But, the centre could not be made operational in true sense from the very beginning of its inception even for a single day due to poor management and leasing out of warehouses to party men, who have no experience in fishing or fish trading.

All the privately managed "ghats" (fish landing centres), particularly one at Fishery Ghat, are doing brisk business of fish landing and distribution amid muddy and unhygienic conditions that damage quality of fishes and pose threat to public health as well as reduce the expected volume of export, said the sources.

The fish traders as well as the fish exporters said poor management is responsible for the present state of the BFDC centre.

Leasing out the warehouses to persons without any experiences in fishing or fish trading at the initial stage discouraged the genuine traders and fishermen to avoid the landing centre, they added.

Compared to private ghats, the BFDC fish landing centre at Monoharkhali offered better facilities for landing, preservation

and distribution.

It was enriched with a 1530 sq-metre floor for trading, an ice plant with a daily production capacity of 32 tons and separate ice crashing machine, 42 warehouses for the wholesalers and cold storage with a holding capacity of 32 tons or 165 cubic meters.

With three steel pontoons each measuring 600 sq metre, a 25m X 5m gangway, a steel bridge and necessary equipment, it had arrangement for smooth landing of fishes charging only Tk 5 per mound.

At the fish landing centre fishes could be taken to the trading floor or warehouses directly from the fishing boats while carrying fishes from the landing spots to the arats or trading floors standing at some distance in the privately managed ghats took an extra transportation cost.

The BFDC centre has diesel filling station, water supply station for fishing boats, a huge car parking space measuring 2020 sq

metre and space for giving berthing for 50 to 60 mechanised boats at a time.

It can help land fishes weighing 45,000 tons to 60,000 tons annually or 123 tons to 164 tons a day.

But, till date the centre could never go for operation up to its capacity with two to three landing taking place a week during the off-peak season, said the sources.

The centre witnessed landing of only 6682 kgs of fishes this month, which is around 6.5 tons and about one-twentieth of its minimum capacity, employees of the centre said.

With such a poor state of operation, it could not even earn the money required for its maintenance and payment of the staff salaries, they said.

"None of us including three officials, three guards, one peon and two cleaners could draw our salaries during the last five months," said the staffs on Monday.

Despite reducing the deposition money from Tk 50,000 to Tk

25,000 for taking lease of the warehouses and trading space, only 15 traders now operate at the centre, they said.

Of 42 warehouses, 12 were converted into office rooms, 15 being used by the lessees while the rest remained vacant or used for other purposes.

Lying almost idle most of the times the overhead harvesting crane and brine tank of the ice plant, ice storage, ice crashing machine and other equipments are rusting away while pontoons and gangway decaying fast.

On the other hand, the fish landing centre at Fishery Ghat under the management of Kendrio Matshyajibee Samabai Samity (central fishermen cooperatives society) has become the main and largest wholesale market of fishes in the port city.

Ehsanul Huq, manager of the BFDC fish landing centre, said the fishermen and fish traders avoid the centre as it does not allow fishing, landing or sale of jatkas (fish fries). He said Marine Mercantile Department and Fisheries Department should force all the fishing boats to land fishes at the centre, which is mandatory in the MMD rules.

The frozen food exporters also emphasised the need for measures by the government to make the centre vibrant.

Landing of fishes in the ghats in a conventional way discourages

the foreign buyers, said an official of Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association.