The dried fish (shutki) season at Dublar Char begins on 1 November, and coastal fishing villages are busy with last-minute preparations. Fishermen are readying nets, ropes, boats and trawlers; some are building new trawlers and others have repaired old ones. Many have already gathered in Mongla and on the Pashur river, and from Tuesday (26 October) they are setting out for Dublar Char on the coast with Forest Department passes. Although there is no longer trouble from pirates at sea, the fishermen are making the journey aware of the risk of deaths and damage from storms and tidal surges.

Fishermen will spend a busy dried fish season from 1 November to 31 March at Dublar Char in the Sundarbans on the Bay of Bengal, staying there for five months straight. They must build temporary shelters, platforms and racks for drying fish on the shore, but may not use any Sundarbans trees, plants or vines to do so. Following Forest Department instructions, fishermen preparing to go are therefore taking the materials they need on their trawlers, and fishermen and financiers in Bagerhat and several other coastal districts are busy with these preparations.

On the way, the sea-going fishermen may not enter or stay in any river or canal of the Sundarbans. While at Dublar Char, they are also barred from entering or fishing in the forest's canals; only the sea is allowed.

Bidyut Mondal, president, and Md Jalal Sheikh, general secretary, of the Mongla branch of the Jatiya Matsyajibi Samity (national fishermen's association) said fishermen are going to Dublar Char this year on 250 to 300 trawlers from Mongla, taking all kinds of equipment with them.

Mohammad Belayet Hossain, divisional forest officer of the Sundarbans East, said about 10,000 fishermen from various coastal areas will again gather at Dublar Char for the dried fish season, and about 1,500 fishing trawlers are going there. They will sort different species of fish caught in the deep sea and dry them. This year too, permission is being given to set up shelters for the fishermen and depots to store dried fish. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Coast Guard patrols will join the Forest Department to keep the fishermen safe.

He said the Forest Department collected Tk 3 crore 22 lakh in revenue from Dublar Char last dried fish season. If the weather stays favourable, the same amount or more can be collected this year, he said.

Kamal Uddin Ahmed, a leader of the Dubla Fishermen Group, said there is no longer any fear of piracy in the Bay of Bengal or the Sundarbans, so the fishermen are going to sea with considerable relief. If the weather holds, the fishermen and boat owners from various coastal areas will be able to return home at the end of the season with good profits.

Source: Bangla Tribune. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.