Boosting fish farming

With the fast depletion of natural fish resources, augmenting fish farming should be a priority for the country. Both scientific and indigenous methods of fish production have so far yielded a positive outcome for Bangladesh, as the country was ranked third in inland open water capture production and 5th in world aquaculture production in 2020. A pisciculture revolution has taken place in the country, meeting the demand for protein and creating huge employment in rural Bangladesh. Traditional methods of fish farming have largely been absent in our pisciculture sector. Of late, IFAD has come out with a recipe for indigenous methods of fish farming in coastal areas. The government is planting swamp forest trees -- Hijol and Koros -- in five haor districts to boost fish production and enhance earning of the fishermen, states a report published in this daily on Monday. As most of the inland capture fisheries have been under heavy pressure, aquaculture will be central to meeting the fish demand for the increasing population.

As per the published report, around 2.65 lakh trees will be planted on the banks of water bodies in haor districts covering 25 hectares of land owned by the government. So far, 1.93 lakh trees have been planted and more than 71,640 will follow suit. “Leaves, bark and branches of Hijol and Koros are the best nest for fish. The trees produce food for fish and keep them in targeted areas in beels,” said Bakul Bishwas, a fisherman and a member of beel user group in Santinagar upazila under Sunamganj. “Hijol and Koros can do what none can do in nature,” he told The Business Post. According to the Local Government and Engineering Department, 1,01,000 trees have been planted in Kishoreganj, 39,900 in Sunamganj, 34,000 in Netrokona, 12,600 in Brahmanbaria, and 6,000 in Habiganj. Another 46,320 trees will be planted in Sunamganj, 1,0,020 in Kishoreganj, 7,000 in Habiganj, 4,800 in Brahmanbaria and 3,500 in Netrokona district.

Hijol and Koros are long known to be a natural booster for fish production almost everywhere in the country, especially in haor, beel, and wet and low lands. Taking cognizance of this indigenous knowledge, LGED is implementing the tree plantation scheme titled “Haor Infrastructure and Livelihood Improvement Project” funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Production of different varieties of fish has increased in the country over the last decade. The country produced over 45.03 lakh tonnes of fish during the fiscal year  2019-20. Of the total fish production, aquaculture accounts for 57.38 per cent, according to the Department of Fisheries Bangladesh. Bangladesh has become a self-sufficient fish-producing country and fish contributes about 60 per cent (with per capita of 62.58 gram/day against targeted 60 g/day) of the total daily animal protein intake of the population. In tilapia production, the country ranked 4th in the world and 3rd in Asia, according to the fisheries department.

As an agro-based country, the contribution of fisheries to the national economy has always been essential and as the primary source of animal protein, employment opportunities, food security, foreign earnings, and socio-economic development. Thankfully Bangladesh has won the maritime boundary award by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Seas (ITLOS) that provides an equitable right in fishing and has opened a new horizon of finding new fishing grounds in the area. About 2, 70,000 fishing households, directly and indirectly, are dependent on marine fishery for their livelihoods.

At a recent meeting, Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim said reproductive techniques and methods of farming Boirali, Balachata, Angus, Jatputi and Datina fishes were invented, adding that Live Fish Gene Bank had been set up in Mymensingh to protect the native species of fish.

Hence, we appreciate the move of the government on boosting fish farming through indigenous methods. The method needs to be broadened to other parts of the country for boosting fish production. Fish intake in meals has long been a culture of our everyday life. Let the culture be patronised by local-foreign partners of the country for sourcing natural and cheap protein for the masses.