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Losses pile up for fish farmers

SHARIFUL ISLAM from Satkhira
Fish cultivators in Satkhira are counting hefty losses due to the persisting hartals and blockades enforced by the opposition alliance.
The farmers are compelled to sell out white fish at a rate as low as half of the actual price as buyers, who supply fishes to different areas of the country, have stopped large scale purchase.
Satkhira, the largest shrimp cultivating district of the country, also produces a significant quantity of white fishes like tilapia, hybrid tilapia, common carp (tablet fish), grass carp, major carp (Rui), seabass (Bhetki), catfish (Tengra) and mullet (Parshe) in shrimp enclosures on the vast swathes of the costal district.
"Besides shrimp, farmers cultivate white fish to reduce risk of loss," said Dr Md Monirul Islam, Assistant Professor of Fisheries of Dhaka University.
Shrimps are vulnerable to viral infections and farmers often do not get good returns from shrimp cultivation alone, he said.
Despite low prices, the cultivators have no choice but to sell out fish as the season of fresh shrimp culture is drawing to an end.
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Before the beginning of a new shrimp season, farmers have to keep their enclosures dried for 25 to 30 days so that they can mix lime, insecticide and fertilisers in the soil of the enclosure bed.
Besides the drop in prices, the ongoing political turmoil has struck a further blow to the cultivators as the prices of input materials such as fish feed and fries have shot up as well.
As a result, farmers now would have to invest more than usual, said Monirul Islam.
I Ie also said the economy and livelihoods of the people of Satkhira largely depend on shrimp and fish culture. Repeated blockades over the past one month had already taken a heavy toll on this sector. And if this situation continues for another month, overall shrimp production will significantly decrease and so will the export earnings from this sector.
Large size tilapia is now being sold at around Tk 50/kg which is sold at Tk 75 in normal times and the medium ones at Tk 30/kg against the usual rate ofTk 50. The current price of common carp weighing over a kilogramme is Tk 90/kg which is normally sold at Tk 145/kg. Large size seabass, catfish and mullets are also being sold at Taka 70-80 less than their usual rates.
Taking advantage of the situation, certain varieties of fish like catfish, mullet and seabass
are being smuggled to India, alleged some local traders.
The cultivators of Satkhira were mostly satisfied with white fish production this year and expected good returns.
The reality, however, poured cold water on their hopes.
"I released 30 maunds of fries of different varieties of white fish in my enclosure at the beginning of the monsoon and, in return, I got around 100 maunds of fish. Due to low price, I can hardly get my investment returned," said Mir Jahangir Alam of Kashibati village in Kaliganj.
"Despite low prices, I'll have to catch all the white fish soon so that I can start preparing my enclosures for the new season," said another fish producer Abdul Jabbar of Gazirhat village in Debhata Upazila of Satkhira.
The buyers too have hardly anything to do regarding the prices as they themselves incur losses due to the political deadlock.
Robin Kumar Sarker, who purchases white fish from local markets in Satkhira and sells those in Sylhet, said he used to send a truckload of white fish to Sylhet earlier, but now he does not do that due to the blockades.
"Earlier I had to pay Tk 30,000 as truck fare to Sylhet but now truckers charge Tk 80,000 for the trip," he said.