Many rivers in Barishal that once carried large launches are turning into dead canals where even trawlers cannot pass, and locals and experts blame encroachment, pollution, silt shoals and a lack of river management. Barishal Water Development Board data list 38 rivers in the district covering 716 km.

The Khoyrabad, which flows some 41 km from the Kirtankhola, now looks like a canal. Md Hakim Ali of Karnakathi said large launches and ships once used it; now not even a large trawler can get in. Shahe Alam, who fished the river for about 50 years, has switched to small trading; he dates the river's decline to the bridges built in 2011.

Launches have not run on the Lata in Hizla for about 22 years, a large part of the Kocha in Wazirpur is nearly dead, and the roughly 22 km Srimanta in Bakerganj is now known as the Srimanta canal. Twenty-two kilometres of the Palordi, a branch of the Arial Khan, are also silting up.

Advocate Lincoln Baiyen, Barishal divisional coordinator of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), said a government survey once counted 140 rivers in Barishal division; shoals, dams at river mouths and bridges have put them at risk, and river management is urgent.

BIWTA's Barishal port officer Md Asaduzzaman said loss of navigability is the main reason many river routes have closed and dredging is essential. Barishal BWDB executive engineer Zabed Iqbal said river management is expensive and he knows of no current government plan to restore the shrunken rivers, though major canal-excavation projects have been proposed.

Source: Amader Somoy