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Dearth Due to Disappearance of Water Bodies

Local variety fishes dear

S DlLIP Roy, Lalmonirhat
Amid disappearance of water bodies and spread of fast growing hybrid fish cultivation, popular local varieties are becoming scantier and pricier in the district.
Favourite local fishes like magur, shing, tengra, koi, chela, puti, boal, shol, shati and gota are now by far outnumbered by hybrid varieties at different markets in Lalmonirhat district.
To create awareness about protection of traditional local variety fishes, Sadar upazila fishery office brought out a procession in the town on Wednesday noon.
Cross section of people including fishermen, farmers and government officials took part in the programme with the slogan 'Pusti beshi deshi machhe, chas karo jolashoye' (cultivate local fishes, they are more nutritious).
"I prefer local variety fishes as they are more tasty and nutritious than hybrid ones but these are not avail-able in local market. Sometimes I get local fishes but the prices are too high,” said Afsar Uddin, 50, of Thanapara village in Lalmonirhat town.
One kg of local variety shing, magur, koi, shol, boal is sold between Tk 400 to Tk 600 a kg, whereas prices of hybrid varieties range from Tk 100 to 130 in the market, saidTapon Kumar Roy, 42, a fish trader at Goshala Bazar, a large fish market in the town.
Some other local variety fishes are sold for Tk 150 to 250 per kg while hybrid varieties are found for Tk 60 to 100, he said, adding that only around five per cent of
the fish supplied to the market is of local varieties.
Jamal Uddin, 55, of Mogholhat village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila said, "I have seven ponds with 12 acres of land in the village where I cultivate fast growing hybrid variety of fishes and earn high profit every year. I don't cultivate local variety fishes as their growth is slow. Besides, I can't collect fry of local variety fishes easily."
Lalmonirhat district fishery department sources said there are 9900 ponds covering 1475 hectares of land and 325 free water bodies covering 5460 hectares of land in five upazilas
of the district. Besides, 10 rivers in the district cover 4,590 hectares of land.
"Only ten years ago there were 5,800 free water bodies with 11,900 hectares of land but the number of water bodies decreased to 4,510 with 8,400 hectares of land five years ago. Now there are only 325 free water bodies with 5,460 hectares of land," said Bodruzzaman Manik, Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila fishery officer.
"My two hectares of land at Bhadai Beel was covered with water round the year 10 years ago but now water is available there only during the rainy season. So I have turned the two hectares of land into a crop
field," said Shomser Ali, 65, of Bhadai village in Aditmari upazila.
Fisherman Joyram Dash, 48, a resident of Kulaghat village in Lalmonirhat Sadar, said earlier fishermen in different areas could catch local variety fishes from free water bodies and rivers round the year but now most of the water bodies and rivers remain dry nearly half of the year.
Deputy Director of Lalmonirhat District Fishery Department Dr Abul Hasnat said fishery officials are going on field visits and holding meetings with the farmers to create awareness for cultivating local variety fishes.