Five hundred fish farmers in several upazilas of Sunamganj are suffering from a major loss of approximately Tk 72.12 crore due to prolonged flood in the area.
The most affected fish farmers are of Dowarabazar Upazila in the district, local sources said.
According to Sunamganj District Fisheries Officer's office, there are 25,173 ponds in the 12 upazilas of the district. Among these, 20 are under the Department of Fisheries, 153 are under the Ministry of Land, and the remaining 25,000 ponds are privately owned for fish farming. There are 16,500 fish farmers. Recently, the fish and fingerlings from about 8,000 ponds were washed away by the floods.
The amount of fish and fingerlings that were washed away is around 4,000 tonnes. Apart from this, there has been infrastructural damage to the fish farms. Overall, there is damage of Tk 72.12 crore so far, of which around Tk 10 crore is infrastructural damage.
According to sources, fish and fingerlings flashed away from several ponds of the district, including 950 ponds in nine unions of Sunamganj Sadar, 220 ponds in Derai, 980 in Chhatak, 346 in Dharmapasha, 900 in Jagannathpur, 860 in Bishwambarpur, 340 in Tahirpur, 1,600 in Dowarabazar, 150 ponds in Shalla, 580 in Jamalganj and 1,095 in Shantiganj Upazila.
Rabindra Roy, a fish farmer of Mollapara Union in Sunamganj Sadar, said on June 18, although he had placed nets around his pond, the fish from the pond had been washed away.
Ashish Rahman, a fish farmer of Surma Union in the Dowarabazar Upazila, fishes over 300 ponds in Tengratila, Nowapara, Boithakhai, Sultanpur, Alipur, Rosrai and Teblai and 25 other villages had been washed away due to rise in water level of the Khashimara River.
Now, they do not have the money to buy new fish fingerlings, and without government assistance, the fish farmers cannot start fish farming again.
Dowarabazar Upazila Fisheries Officer Tusher Kanti Barman said, “In my upazila, there are 871 fish farmers who farm fish in 1,600 ponds. Due to the flood, fish worth Tk 24 crore were washed away. Although the pond infrastructure has been damaged causing a loss of Tk 25 lakh, the farmers have not received any assistance yet.”
Sunamganj district Fisheries Officer Md Shamshul Karim said that the recent floods have washed away 4,000 tonnes of fish from 8,000 ponds in the district, affecting 5,000 fish farmers. Overall, the fisheries sector has incurred losses of over Tk 72 crore.
He further said that they have prepared the report of the affected farmers and sent it to the higher authorities. The fishermen will get assistance and incentives as soon as there will be any from the authorities.
