Suckerfish banned finally

The government has finally banned the suckermouth catfish, locally known as suckerfish, terming it a malicious species posing a serious threat to aquatic biodiversity of the country.

In this regard, on January 11, the Ministry of Fisheries and Water Resources issued a notification signed by Deputy Secretary Mrinal Kanti Dey, at the directive of President M Abdul Hamid.

Later on Wednesday, the government issued the final gazette notification banning Suckermouth catfish.

As per the notification, from now on nobody will be allowed to import, culture, transport, sell, supply or conserve the Suckermouth catfish.

On September 25, 2022, the ministry also issued a notification as the proposal to amend Section 18 of the Protection and Conservation of Fish Act 1950 aiming to ban Sucker Fish.

People were asked to submit their opinion before the ministry within two months if they would have any objections or suggestions to this end.

The Department of Fisheries has been campaigning for a long time that Sucker Fish is harmful to the country. According to one of their leaflets, Suckerfish was first brought to Bangladesh illegally as a wild fish from Brazil in the 1980s.

The fish was widely caught along with cultivated fish in rivers, canals, and farming ponds which turned a threat to the biodiversity and the existence of native species of fish, read the leaflet of the Fisheries Department. Highlighting the harmful effects of the fish, the pamphlet also said that it can survive in any aquatic environment and competes with native species for food and habitat due to its rapid reproduction.