When the monsoon arrived, professional fishers and hobby anglers once filled the rivers, canals and beels of Muradnagar in Cumilla, throwing cast nets (jhaki jal). In this upazila on the Gomti, Titas and Arsi river basins, the cast net has now all but vanished. With water bodies filled in and native fish in severe decline, many fishers have given up a trade handed down for generations.

A cast net has a thin rope seven or eight arm-lengths long tied to it and small iron or lead weights along its lower edge. Thrown from the bank with the rope held in hand, it sinks quickly and traps fish - puti, shrimp, rui, catla, grass carp, shing and many others.

Meanwhile, harmful small-mesh nets have spread through canals, beels and rivers, especially the China duari, also called the China net, magic net or dholuk net. Along with fish of many species it traps fry. Part of the fishing community is turning to it in the hope of bigger catches for less work.

Local people say the spread of modern nets, polluted water bodies, shallower rivers and unplanned use of pesticides on farmland are all reducing native fish, and cast-net fishing has declined with them.

Montu Mia of Ramchandrapur bazar said fish once came with every throw of the net but no longer do. Nikhil Barman, a fisher of Dumuria village, said a whole day with a cast net on the Titas brings in fish worth Tk 300-400, not enough to run a household, and the net takes physical strength to use. Swapan Mia of Gazirhat said the arrival of various modern nets had greatly reduced cast-net fishing.

Reported by Shafiqul Islam, Muradnagar (Cumilla).

Source: Desh Rupantor