More than 20,600 fishermen who earn their livelihood by fishing in the river Padma are in dire straits since vast riverine areas have now turned to the sandy Charland.
It is learnt, once a turbulent river Padma lost its navigability after the construction of the Farakka barrage on the river across the border to divert its water during the 70's decade. Nowadays, there is water in the river mainly during the Monsoon and during the rest of the year, the river water continued to recede. During the month of January to May, a vast tract of areas on the river Padma turns to only sandy dunes and chars. As a result, the fishermen who used to earn their living by fishing in the water of the river turned utterly helpless and miserable and are spending inhuman lives during this lean period.
This trend of drying up of the river is being continued for more than the last five decades but it has increased further during the last two decades. As a result, the fishermen of the river Padma are returning to their houses by furling their nets. Some of them have already switched to other professions by abandoning their age-old paternal professions. Once upon a time, the water of the river Padma remained full for eight months of the year. And, nearly one-third of people living beside the river Padma used to earn their livelihood by catching fish in the river. But, now water in the river is not available even for three months in a year. As a result, the number of fishermen has been reduced to half of the earlier ones. The condition of those fishermen who are still relying on the river for catching fish and maintaining their families is really wretched. Shafi (65) of Char Majardiar village under Rajshahi Sadar Upazila informed, most of the fishermen of the village have now turned unemployed. They can only fish in the river during the Monsoon period and the rest of the time of the year, they are engaged in other professions. To quench the hunger of their family members, many of them are now engaged in infamous professions like smuggling or drug peddling while others were driving auto-rickshaws or going to Dhaka in search of jobs.
According to Fisheries Office sources in Rajshahi, there are 20,640 registered fishermen in the Rajshahi district. Of those nearly 15,000 used to earn their livelihood by catching fish in the river Padma. But, due to the loss of navigability of the river, the number of fishermen relying on the river Padma has decreased to nearly 8,000.
The Padma is mainly flowing through Godagari, Paba, Charghat, Bagha and Rajshahi sadar upazilas. As a result, the number of fishermen in these upazilas is more than those engaged in other professions. The fishermen do not get the required fish they need due to the drying up of the river. Those who somehow stick to the fisherman profession have no ability to switch to other occupations. As a result, they are still sticking to this profession.
Fisherman Abdul Malek of Nabaganga village under Paba upazila informed he has been catching fish in the river Padma for the last 35 years. He said, he has nine members in the family and he brought up his sons and daughters by catching fish in the river. Earlier, there was water all around the year and fish was also available. But, now there is not enough water in the river and fish are also unavailable.
Fisherman Firoz said, they can maintain their families well for three and a half months only in a year because when the water of the river started to recede, it turns into a desert in a short time.
Ainal Haque of Paba upazila said the price of nets and materials for fishing is very high in the market. Due to inadequate fish in the river, the fishermen's families in the district are spending inhuman lives.
He added that the fish that they catch from early morning to night, is not sufficient enough to maintain his family. He said he can not switch to another profession as he does not know any other profession except fishing.
Wali Ullah Mollah, Senior Fisheries Officer of Charghat upazila informed, fishermen of the upazila earn satisfactory money for four months in a year but their condition turned wretched during the rest eight months.
Jahangir Alam, Senior Fisheries Officer in Rajshahi informed,' We try to distribute any government grant among the poor fishermen. The fishermen relying for their livelihood on the river Padma are spending inhuman lives due to the drying up of the river water. We, therefore, try to ensure fishing by the genuine fishermen in the river by seizing and destroying harmful current nets'.