Bamboo-made fishing trap changing lives

Chai, a bamboo made fishing trap, has become a boon for the marginal people of Sharitapur as thousands of people involved in this craft are earning over Tk500 crore every year.

More than 1,500 families consisting 4,000 people from Borokandi union’s Purbo, Paschim and Ramkrishnapur, Uttar Dubuldia Kazi Kandi villages of Janjira upazila of the district are involved in this craft.

These fishing traps look like a long spherical basket with one conical closed and a wide opening at the other. Each trap stretches a length of 20ft to 10ft and consists of five to ten openings, four to five feet apart, to allow fish to enter, and one pocket for collecting the fish.

The trap is usually placed at the narrowest area of a running waterbody. Small local fish such as prawns, bele, puti, bain, pabda, enter the trap through its wide mouth and get trapped for the fisherman to recover.

Around 10,000 to 12,000 fishing traps are being made in these three villages and being sold in Munshiganj, Chandpur, Noakhali, Madaripur, Faridpur and Barishal after meeting local demand, said the craftsmen in these villages.

Chai producers import two particular varieties of bamboo, locally known as Tolla and Makhol, to make these fish trap. Six fishing traps can be made from each bamboo. The manufacturing cost of 100 fishing traps is around Tk12, 000 to Tk15, 000, and usually gets sold for Tk20,000 to Tk25,000.

The makers sometimes work on a contract basis and deliver fishing traps as ordered by the vendors.

Each worker earns Tk 200 to Tk 250 per day and Tk70 to Tk 80 per piece based on the quality. The craftsmen make more than 5, 00,000 fishing traps each season.

Men, women and children make the fish traps from the middle of May to the middle of August, usually

before and during the monsoon season and work as farm labourers

or do other jobs in villages for the rest of the year.

Monir Hossain Khan and his wife, Fatema Begum, told The Business Post that they make these fishing traps for nine months a year and earn Tk 6,000 to Tk 7,000 each week.

“We are happy with our earnings and living a good a life,” said Fatema.

Similarly, 40-year-old Ajufa Begum said she and her family

members work together to make these fishing traps and earn Tk 8,000 to Tk 9,000 a week.

Khuki Akhter, Shakil, Dudu Miah, Shafin, Rana, all students of a local village school, said they help their parents with the craft after school and earn Tk 500 to Tk 600 a week, which they use to buy clothes, books and other essentials for themselves.

An entrepreneur, Abdul Rob Madbar, told The Business Post that he started his small business with an investment of Tk2,00,000 a few years back and sold 20,000 fishing traps each season, earning a profit over Tk5,00,000 to Tk 6,00,000 a year.

Harun Kazi, a resident of Kazi Kandi village, said they run their businesses by taking loan from their relatives and neighbours.

If the government would have helped us, then we could have operated our businesses better, he added.

When contacted, Arko Sarker, in-charge of Small And Cottage Industries Corporation in Shariatpur, said, “If the farmers want to take loans from us, we can provide the money for the crafts (fish trap).”