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Alternative Livelihood During Hilsa Catching Ban

Lease jalmahals to fishermen

IUCN organised Bangladesh-India joint consultation urges govt

Staff Correspondent
During the eight-month ban on hilsa catching, the government should lease the khas jalmahals to the fishermen for fish cultivation as an alternative livelihood option for them, speakers said at an Bangladesh-India joint consultation meeting on hilsa conservation yesterday.
Currently, the government gives 40kg of rice to each of the five lakh hilsa fishermen monthly from November to June each year when fishing of young hilsa remains banned,
said Zahid Habib, project director of Jatka conservation project of Bangladesh.
The project has contributed to a huge boost in hilsa production from 199.65 lakh tonnes in 2002-2003 to 385 lakh tonnes in 2013-2014, he said.
However, economist Mahbub Ullah said distribution of rice could not be an alternative livelihood option for fishermen because they had other needs.
Fani Bhushan Malo, secretary gen-eral of National Fishermen Association, said leasing out the khas
jalmahals or government-owned water bodies like beel, haor to the fishermen could generate income for them during the ban period.
Liakat Ali, former director general of the Department of Fisheries, seconded the proposal and called it a good alternative.
The joint consultation meeting on the hilsa titled "Ecosystems, People and Shared Learning: Experiences from Bangladesh-India Civil Society Dialogue" was held in The Daily Star Centre in the capital where Sangita Mitra of World Wildlife Fund, India presented the keynote speech, "Sustainable livelihood options for fishers during the hilsha ban period".
Turning to hilsa conservation efforts, the experts said that since the Farakka barrage created barriers on the migration route of the hilsa in the Ganges River, the construction of any dam or structure on rivers should be thought out carefully, considering its impacts on the fish resources.
They also laid emphasis on stopping indiscriminate fishing in the estuary and in the Bay of Bengal with the use of mechanised boats and modem fishinggears, to protect fish stocks.
"Starting from May or June, the fish markets of Kolkata are getting flooded with khoka or jatka (young hilsa) for the last few years because mechanised boats are going to the Bay, 50-60km off the coast, and catching small fish, weighing lOOgm to 500gm," said Amalesh Choudhury, an exprofessor of marine science at Kolkata University.
Most hilsa do not get the chance to grow and lay eggs, as boats trawl nets as long as 6-7km in the Bay, he said.
The country offices of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in India and Bangladesh, and the IUCN Asia Regional Office in Thailand organised the consultation meeting.
The offices are implementing a project, "Ecosystem for Life: A Bangladesh-India Initiative", forhilsa conservation.
Bangladeshi hydrologist Ainun Nishat said Farakka created barriers for hilsa migration beyond the barrage, as the authorities never kept its fish pass open or its design was faulty.
Joy Krishna Halder, secretary general of West Bengal United Fishermen Association, called for a stop to bottom trawling in the sea.
Begum Nurunnhar of Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Mihir Kumar Majumder of Palli Unnyan and Samabay Bank, Dr Meena Gupta of the Indian environment and forest ministry, and Mike Robson of FAO also joined the discussion.
Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre, moderated the session. Bushra Nishat, project manager of Ecosystems for Life: A Bangladesh-India Initiative, and Aditi Jha, programme officer of the project, also spoke.