Home ›› 30 Sep 2021 ›› Front
On the surface, the external parts of fish are mere waste stinking and polluting the environs, but there lies the irony. The leftovers could fetch a windfall gain should they be properly harnessed.
The fish byproducts – scales, gills, fins, crus, and parts of dried shrimp shells, appendages and air bladders – hold values when it comes to meeting industrial needs in the global market.
The organic components of fish waste are used as raw materials for medicine, cosmetics, animal food, and fertiliser industries.
Bangladesh is unable to process the exterior parts of fish and other aquatic animals to get the best out of them, and therefore, it remains content with only exporting the discards as raw materials to China, Korea, Thailand and India – the countries that are making fortune out of the byproducts.
Shariful Islam, an exporter hailing from Sylhet, said he collects fish scales from across the country and sends them overseas.
“Every day we can export to India 20-30 maunds of fish byproducts worth Tk 1 lakh,” he gave an estimate.
A fish scale collector Toyebur Rahman in the city’s Azimpur explained that nearly 30,000 people are involved in the sector and some 20 organisations are known to export fish waste to countries like China and India.
The government requires expending state money to remove wastage from across the country especially in urban areas, but people involved in the sector said a careful management could ensure an employment opportunity for thousands, especially for women.
There has been significant growth of fish production in the last few years, and so is the number of fish dressers in line with the rising number of consumers.
The fish cutters are working as a major driving force for the growth of this fledging industry centring fish waste that are ending up in export destinations like China, Indonesia, Korean Republic, Thailand, Hong Kong and India while export income is rising by 30 per cent year-on-year, according to the sector people.
As per the data from Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), in Fiscal Year 2016-17, Bangladesh earned $ 3,45,222 which was $ 5,02,106 in FY18 followed by $ 3,090,255 in FY19, $ 2,476,722 in FY20 and $ 1,651,461 in FY21.
Fish waste handling
Though every part of fish is considered valuable, the country is now mostly dealing with fish scale, shrimp head and shells while segregation work is witnessed in every division and massively in urban and littoral areas, and is also spreading to every district as a substitute for other professions.
Some 300 families near Karwan bazar level crossing and Korail slums are involved in drying fish scales. Several warehouses have come into being in Jatrabari and Shyambazar in Dhaka.
Meanwhile, a number of industries have mushroomed in Dhaka, Chattogram and Khulna to turn fish waste into raw materials. The entrepreneurs find interest in this sector as it requires less capital to run business.
Kulsum Begum, who separates scale from fish wastage at Karwan Bazar level crossing, said her husband collects fish byproducts while she along with her daughter segregates scales and dry them in the sun.
“Every month we sell 300kg to 400kg of fish scale worth Tk 30,000 to Tk 40,000,” she gave an estimate.
Single source, double income
The urban residents’ dependency on professional fish cutters in kitchen markets is contributing to the growth of fish waste trade. The fish dressing helps those involved in it not only to earn a living, they can also sell fish waste to such waste collectors.
While taking to The Business Post some fish cutters from BUET Market at Palashi, Hatirpool Bazar and Karwan Bazar said earlier, they had to pay for removing the exterior parts of fish, but now trend has changed. Presently, they are paid instead to preserve fish waste.
“It was an additional cost for us to pay garbage collectors for keeping the market clean alongside regular rent. Now we are getting money from fish waste collectors, which is really good for us,” said Md Rubel, a fish cutter at BUET Market.
Md Jashim Uddin, a fish dresser at Hatirpool Bazar, made a parallel remark as Rubel did, saying he used to pay Tk 20 to cleaners per day to remove waste.
“Now I am offered money to keep that very garbage coming out of fish. Some even compete to get hold of this byproduct,” he explained.
Commercial value
The external parts of fish have high commercial value in the international market as raw materials for medical, cosmetics, feed industry and many other potential applications.
Several researches have been conducted nationally and internationally on the use of fish waste – all found commercial value of such products.
An article titled “Fish industry waste: treatments, environmental impacts, current and potential uses” was published in 2008 in international journal of food science and technology that found that fish waste have many applications.
They can help produce animal feed, biodiesel/biogas, dietetic products (Chitosan), natural pigments (after extraction), food-packaging applications (Chitosan), cosmetics (collagen), enzyme isolation, soil fertiliser and hydrolysates (Food Protein).
A report in Switzerland-based Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) titled “Fish waste: From problem to valuable resource” on February 19, 2021 said the compounds of fish discards and byproducts could become an enormous resource for production of peptides, proteins, collagen, chitin, oil, and enzymes.
“Fish waste has a high commercial value in medicine industry. The shell of shrimp and scale of big fish are very useful for producing products like Chitin and Chitosan,” said Firoj Ahamed, acting chairman, Department of Pharmacy at Dhaka University.
The volume of byproducts is rising in line with that of fish production in the country. As per the data from the Department of Fisheries, fish production was 42.76 lakh tonnes in Fiscal Year 2017-18 which rose to 43.84 lakh tonnes in FY 2018-19 and 45.03 lakh tonnes in FY 2019-20.
According to the MDPI article titled -- Seafood Waste Management Status in Bangladesh and Potential --, around 43,321 tonnes of seafood waste are produced every year.
The highest amount of seafood waste is produced in Khulna, followed by Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, Dhaka and Sylhet.
A survey conducted by AKM Nowsad Alam, professor, Fisheries Technology Department at Bangladesh Agricultural University, found that Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna, Rajshahi produce 60,000 tonnes of fish wastage at markets.
Of the waste, only 10-15 per cent are collected for commercial purposes.
“Every part of fish is valuable. On average, 20-25 per cent of a fish turn out to be byproduct,” he observed.
Every year Bangladesh produces around 10 lakh tonnes of byproducts while nearly 6.5 lakh tonnes of fish get rotten due to lack of proper mechanism, awareness and negligence.
The market value of the rotten fish is around Tk 20, 0000 crore.
“If we can use the wastage properly, this can be an emerging export sector,” Nowsad said, adding that 200 types of medicines could be produced from fish skin.
“Gelatin, which we import, can also be produced locally from fish byproducts.”
Good for keeping environment pollution-free
With the growing fish production in the country, fish waste management has become one of major problems.
Experts suggest that apart from earning bucks, a well-management of fish byproducts is necessary to save environment.
Nurul Islam Nazem, chairman, Geography and Environment Department at Dhaka University, observed that due to lack of proper waste management system, fish wastage is dropped here and there, leading to pollution.
“If they are recycled properly, our environment will be pollution-free,” he opined.
Accordign to Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon General Secretary Sharif Jamil, all waste needed to be brought under a comprehensive management plan that covers issues related to consumption, production, disposal and treatment while the country is lacking in such a roadmap.
No training facilities
There is a paradox when observed that the rise of fish production does not entail any policy to manage fish discards.
Rokeya Akter, who collects fish scale from Karwan Bazar, said if they were given training, they could supply quality products and earn better.
Mollah Emdadullah, district fisheries officer at Patuakhali, said one lakh ton of fish is produced there per year and 15-20 per cent of fish turn waste.
Asked about the use of fish wastage, he said, “Till now we don’t have any plan for its utilisation.”
Md Abu Saeed, deputy director, Department of Fisheries at Khulna Division, however, said they have an extended guideline on how to raise fish production but do not run any programme on waste management.
“Here people are involved in dealing with fish scale and other byproducts privately,” he said.
Nowsad, who is also a member of Technical Committee on Marine Fisheries under the Department of Fisheries, stressed the importance of every single part of fish which is useful for commercial purposes.
Now the country is exporting several parts of shrimp including its scale to some counties, he said, adding that though the byproducts have a huge commercial value, the government has yet to take any initiative to realise their full potential.
Talking to The Business Post, KH Mahbubul Haque, additional director general and project director, Department of Fisheries, suggested that they have already taken initiative to ensure a proper use of fish wastage.
“We have taken up two projects to this end -- one is underway while another is in the offing. We want to make use of at least 5 per cent of fish byproducts within 3-4 years, but public awareness can play a vital role in this regard,” he pointed out.
