Promoting climate-resilient fish farming stressed

Substantial and sustainable promotion of resilient climate farming can be an effective means of boosting fish production through facing the adverse impact of climate change in the region.

For the last couple of years, conventional fish farming has been affected due to the climate change impact in the region, including its vast Barind tract. So, there is a need to promote climate-resilient fish farming to meet the gradually mounting protein demands.

Fisheries experts and development activists came up with the observation while addressing a daylong experience-sharing workshop titled “Positive Impact of Eco-friendly and Climate- resilient Technologies in Fish Farming” in the district.

On behalf of the ‘Sustainable Enterprise Project (SEP)’, Ashrai, a non-government development organisation hosted the workshop at its training centre supported by Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF).

Ashrai Executive Director Prof Dr Ahsan Ali and Prof Dr Yeamin Hossain from the Department of Fisheries in Rajshahi University addressed the workshop as the chief and special guests respectively.

Senior Upazila Fisheries Officer Muhammad Asaduzzaman, Ashrai Deputy General Manager Abdur Razzak, SEP Technical Officer Saad Ahmad, and Documentation Officer Syed Tanvir Islam also disseminated their expertise on the issue.

The speakers mentioned many of the grassroots people have become accustomed to environment-friendly best practices in terms of fish farming with the intervention of the three-year SEP.

Around 300 farmers were imparted training on good aquaculture practice for environmental certification, while 150 others were given training on feeding techniques and safe input uses and 75 on post harvest management for product certification.

Prof Ahsan Ali said many of the club members are growing Malabar spinach (puishak) on the pond embankment and using those as meals for their rearing fishes in the respective pond maintaining the food-centric natural ecosystem in the fish farming ponds. In the process, fish are getting organic food contributing to reducing the water pollution caused by using chemical fertilisers.

Climate-resilient technology has become a boon for many fish farmers as they are getting extra profit from their respective fish farming ventures despite the adverse impact of climate change in the region.

The beneficiaries have brought a revolutionary change in fish farming since their adoption of climate-resilient methods and yielded significant production, particularly in Paba upazila.

Prof Ali said they are promoting climate-resilient technologies in fish farming by launching modern technologies to produce safe food and to reduce production costs.