Feni fishermen struggle to find hilsa in peak season

Over 250 fishermen from Feni’s Sonagazi upazila have been long waiting for the 65-day fishing ban to end.

They prepared their nets, trawlers and all necessary equipment with high hopes of netting hilsa, the most sought after fish in Bangladesh.

However, all their hopes slowly faded away and they were now frustrated as they found only small numbers of the popular fish in the Muhuri River and its tributaries.

After the ban ended on July 23, these 250 fishers have been scouring the rivers with their 70 trawlers for hilsa.

However, they could only manage to net only small amount of the fish, despite being in the peak season.

“We have taken large loans from the dadandars (local money lenders) to repair and renovate our trawlers and fix our fishing nets. We thought we will be able to catch a huge load of the silver fish and successfully pay back the loans,” said fisherman Sudangsho Jaldas.

He said that the fishermen in the area are in acute financial crisis as they were not allowed to catch fish during the ban.

Visiting the area, fishermen were seen sitting idly on their trawlers in the riverbed with their nets. They have been desperately making two, three drives to the river each night to net hilsa, but the yields have been hardly inadequate.

“I along with 12 fishermen have invested Tk 6,000 on a single night and got only ten small hilshas weighing between 300 to 700 grams,” Chattu Mahajan, a trawler owner, told The Business Post.

“Ten days ago, I with five other fishermen went to the river at 11 pm in the night, and after putting a 10-hour long effort, we could net only two hilsas weighing 500grams around 9 am in the morning,” said Joydeb Joldas, a fisherman of the area.

“I have taken a huge loan from a local lender, which I hoped to repay with my profit from hilsa catches. But if the situation prevails, I do not know how would I be able to survive,” added the fisherman.

Echoing his concerns, two brothers and fishermen Krishna Mohan Jaldas and Sudansghu Jaldas told The Business Post that they had taken a loan of Tk50,000 from a local NGO.

“We are regularly scouring the river for the fish, but we are returning empty-handed most of the days. It is becoming so difficult to earn our livelihoods, and if this situation prevails, we would have to leave our ancestral profession,” said fisherman Krishna.

Priyo Lal, a fish trader, told The Business Post that they used to net a massive amount of hilsa every year around this this time and make good profit.

However this year, the situation has been significantly difficult as hilsa is scarce in the river for unknown reasons, he said.

According to the District Fisheries Office, most of the hilsa caught this season were taken from the sea.

This has led experts to opine that increasing siltation at river-mouths has blocked the fish’s migration routes. The hilsa needs river mouths to be around 12-metres deep in order to move upstream.

Adding to these reasons, the poor navigability of the river, emersion of char lands, unplanned establishments, embankments along the river are also contributing to the problem, said Upazila Fisheries Officer Turzo Saha while addressing the issue.