Home ›› 16 Apr 2023 ›› Nation
Aquatic life and several fish species in northern region of the country have been gradually declining during the past three decades in Teesta, Dharla and Brahmaputra flowing through Rangpur division.
The marine species in the rivers that still exist will likely disappear soon due to the insufficient water flow and siltation in the rivers, said local sources.
The common rivers flowing through the northern districts have almost dried up and many of them are transformed into dozens of narrow channels and streams due to sharp fall of water from upstream which has caused the extinction of several aquatic lives in the rivers and hampered thousands of people’s livelihood, agriculture and biodiversity, claimed experts.
The Teesta flows through the Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Rangpur and Gaibandha districts of Rangpur region.
The Teesta especially turns a bad shape as it has a flow of water only during the monsoon when India releases water from the Gajoldoba Barrage, according to the Water Development Board (WDB).
Locals and experts said about 102 kilometres, out of the 115-kilometre course of the Teesta River flowing inside Bangladesh -- from Lalmonirhat’s Teesta Barrage to the river’s confluence in Kurigram -- have completely dried up now.
Officials of the WDB said the river remains completely dried up for almost months of the year except from July to October.
The river goes dry during the month of November to May when people can walk across the river on foot. The riverbed becomes compacted with silt creating hazards for the livelihood of the thousands people depending on the river and loss of biodiversity in the region.
According to the Department of Fisheries (DoF) Rangpur divisional office, some 27 varieties of fish species in the Teesta, Dharla and Brahmaputra have been detected in the latest fish census last year while the number of fish varieties are many in the past .
Deputy Director, Department of Fisheries, Rangpur division Saifuddin Yahiya said, the department carries out a fish census every rainy season at the height of water flow in the rivers — which usually falls in October.
In 1988 as many as 267 fish species had been found in the rivers. The species still exists in the river and will be vanished over the next few years, he apprehended.
The fish species which were found during the peak rainy season last year included tengna, kalabush, koya, balia bairali, pabda, mithai, gorai and chad gobda, shole, boal, puti, chanda, poa and shrimp.
A huge number of fishermen living in the river basin areas of the districts have left their netting occupations for unavailability of fish in the river. They almost have joined alternative occupations. The number of fishermen has dropped to around 3,000 now from 17,000 in the 2010 census following the decline of fish species and insufficient water flow in the river.
Earlier, in 1988, some 317 other species of aquatic life including sweet-water dolphins and crocodiles were found in the mostly extinct rivers, officials at the fisheries department disclosed.
Abdur Rahman, 55, at Mohipur Ghat under Gangachara upazila of the district said, he used to see his father and grandfather catching fish in the Teesta River during his childhood to support their livelihood. They don’t have any piece of land. So, he became a fisherman by profession. His father could also support the family by netting fish in the river.
Now, it becomes tough for him to sustain himself in the profession as he does not get enough fish in the river to maintain his family. Many of the fishermen in the village left their ancestral jobs and joined alternative professions to maintain their livelihood, he noted.
Experts fear that the rest of the surviving aquatic life in the rivers will disappear soon as India has a fresh plan to dig two more canals upstream in the state of West Bengal to divert the common river water for their agriculture.
The new project of India on the transboundary river upstream will worsen the situation in Bangladesh by reducing the water flow, said a river researcher, Tuhin Wadud who is also Director of Riverine People and Associate Professor, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur.
Teesta, which originated from the Himalayan glaciers, was once a mighty river that now flows almost like a stream in Bangladesh in the lean period and overflows during the monsoon that causes frequent floods damaging lives, properties and croplands.
