With a commitment of involving people in socio-cultural development through increasing the production of the fisheries resources, celebration of the National Fisheries Week began across the country. Highlighting the importance of fisheries resources in fulfilling nutritional and food demand of the country’s ever increasing population, the ministry of fisheries and livestock and other stakeholders took out rallies, released fish fries, held discussions, seminars and prize distribution programmes, screened documentary films and created awareness building and motivational activities to further develop the fisheries sector.
Bangladesh is now self-sufficient in fish production. The production of domestic fish through cultivation has increased four times in the last 13 years. Board of Governors of the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) has developed breeding techniques and farming technology of 37 species of endangered indigenous fish through research. Of them, some 11 species of endangered native fish have been brought back in the last one year and seven months.
A live gene bank has been established to conserve indigenous fish. Therefore, rural people will have to enhance fish production alongside protecting natural breeding grounds, and stop catching small fish to preserve indigenous fish species to achieve self-reliance by cutting poverty. The field level fisheries officials will have to transfer the latest technologies to farmers for ensuring the best utilisation of water bodies and enhancing fish farming to change their economic conditions.
The government’s measures to spread
out the indigenous species of fish
all over the country have been
able to bring back the endangered
indigenous fresh water fishes
The government’s measures to spread out the indigenous species of fish all over the country have been able to bring back the endangered indigenous fresh water fishes. Over the past decade, our many native delicious fishes continued disappearing from the country’s rivers, haors, canals, beels and other water bodies due to the use of chemical fertilisers, unplanned use of land, shortage of ponds, siltation of rivers, canals and other water bodies, indiscriminate and unabated catching of fish fries and adverse impact of climate change.
Besides, the indigenous fish varieties disappeared fast since the water bodies, including rivers, haors, canals and wetlands were being grabbed by influential people. Agro chemicals destroyed the breeding grounds of the fishes endangering their existence.
As the native fish species, particularly the small ones, cannot take food for lack of zooplanktons, they cannot properly grow and breed. In consequence, we had to face serious scarcity of the native fish species.
During the dry season, local people catch all varieties of fish from water bodies withdrawing water from them and they indiscriminately catch all mother fishes. Such trend must be stopped immediately to help the government for creating favourable condition for native fishes. Besides, the conservation of rivers and wetlands like khal, beel, haor and baor to protect the species is a must. Simultaneously, unchecked use of agro chemicals and overfishing will also have to be stopped.
