Mud eels declining from nature, threat to exporters

No progress in artificial breeding of mud eels has kept exporters dependent on nature leading to a halt to its export due to inadequate supply.

Collectors catch mud eels from natural wetland. Most of the people do not eat this fish as it is a social taboo against but they sell those to local middlemen.

Middlemen again sell those to exporters in Dhaka. There is no eel culture or commercial farming in Bangladesh.The export is totally dependent on availability of eels in the nature.

“Culture is not possible without artificial breeding and without culture it is hard to increase the number of mud eel,” Devid Rintu Das, a prominent researcher of the Bangladesh Fish Research Institute, told The Business Post.

Due to lack of artificial breeding, its availability in the nature has decreased slightly, he said.

“I have been engaged in this business for decades. The number of eels seems to have dropped slightly, Prodip Baroi, a local middleman from Agailjhara of Barishal who collects eels from catchers, said.

There are 17 countries that import mud eels from Bangladesh. The total export volume was only $15 million in FY2017-18.The sector insiders say there is a huge demand for mud eels in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and some other countries.

Bangladesh exported 6,570 tonnes of eels in the FY2019-20, which came down to 4,375 tonnes in 2020-21 and to 3,430 tonnes in FY2022.

“Before boosting export we need to know the maximum sustainable yield. If maximum harvest limit can be known, then maximum export limit can be fixed by the government which is more important to save the species from extinction,” Kazi Ahsan Habib, Professor of The Department of Fisheries Biology and Genetics at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, said.

“Secondly we need to know the total populations of eels living in the nature and what kind of weather condition is needed for what type of eels. Only then we can take steps in commercialization and breeding of eels,” he said.

Korea and Japan have exclusive shops and restaurants that sell only mud eels, he informed.

On the latest 2015 red list of IUCN two types of mud eels were mentioned that were under threat in Bangladesh.

Bogura Dinajpur, Rangpur, Barishal and Satkhira are the areas where mud eels are found in abundance.

No success in artificial breeding so far

Culture is not possible without artificial breeding, David Rintu Das told The Business Post.

“We had one success after working under a three-year project. We got eggs after 28 -32 days after injecting hormone for three consecutive years. The project ended three years ago and with this our work came to a halt.”

Artificial breeding is possible. Long term research is needed for that, he observed.

Now another attempt is going on under the Bangladesh Fish Research institute led by Dr Durin Jahan, Principal Scientific Officer of BFRI, which is also not giving a glimmer of hope.

“We inject hormone into eel’s body but even after seven days they do not lay any eggs. So we cannot term it artificial breeding. In case of artificial breeding eggs must be hatched within 24-48 hours after injecting hormone, Durin Akhter, told The Business Post.

If all the pairs lay eggs within a period of 5-7 days together then that can be called a success, she said.

If eggs are taken out by splitting the body of an eel the fries that will survive is not viable as the number of parent eels is limited in the country, she added.

In other countries artificial breeding is happening but their variety is different from Bangladeshi varieties, BFRI scientist David added. Professor Kazi Ahsan Habib also confirmed about artificial breeding in other countries.

Controlled breeding can be an option

Eels can easily escape from a pond as they can make holes and through which they can go to a nearby pond. Natural breeding in a particular pond is not possible for that reason. But creating obstacle by using concrete and other materials can be a solution to confine them to a particular pond. Breeding in pond and keep them in that particular pond is called controlled breeding.

“We got success in controlled breeding in Bogura region. A 250-gram mother eel gives only 200-250 eggs and it is so minimal compared to other fishes that lay lakhs of eggs at a time. We got 2000 fries by confining 30 eels - 15 males and 15 females – Durin Akhter said.

Food habit is another barrier to culture

Mud eels do not eat usual food. They only eat small live fish including their own fries.

“One of the main reasons for not increasing the number of eels is that they eat their own fries. If parent fishes can be harvested after breeding the number will increase, Arjun Mandal, an eel merchant of Agailjhara, said.

BFRI is trying to make eels habituated with the food eaten generally by other fishes.

“A major problem is that eels do not eat cake extracted from oil seed and other crops like rice. It has royal food habit. It eats live small fishes. We are giving them oil cake and crop bran with dried fish. After some generations this problem will be solved. They will get used to usual food, Yahia, Director General of BFRI said.

What to do next?

Now it is necessary to develop a complete seed production method and a feasible culture technique that could be adopted at farmer levels, a recent research titled ‘Marketing Channel of the Freshwater Mud Eels in Northern Region of Bangladesh and Its Pre-Export Processing Activities’ carried out jointly by the researchers of University Of Dhaka, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Sylhet Agricultural University and Yunnan University of China, suggested.

China banned Bangladeshi eels import due to chemical contamination. Import again started but under the strict procedure fixed by the Chinese importers, Professor Kazi Ahsan Habib of the Department of Fisheries Biology and Genetics, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, said.

China banned swamp eels import from Bangladesh due to detection of a chemical used in contraceptive pills. However, in the middle of the year 2021 they resumed import from Bangladesh. But only 9 companies were eligible for exporting eels to China.

Demand again began to increase after China resumed wildlife import from the middle of 2021. A total of 80 per cent of swamp eels’ destination is China.

Till now the supply is fine from the natural sources. But for massive export culture is needed, Md Shirajul Islam, Vice President of Bangladesh Live and Chilled Food Exporters Association, said.

More than 8,000 fishers, traders, transporters and exporters are now involved in this sector.