Winter has brought the start of dried fish making to the Bay of Bengal coast at Anwara, Chattogram. Small shrimp and other sea fish are drying in the sun on the embankment at Fultali in Parua Para on the Gohira coast. But thin catches early in the season have fishers worried about how much they can produce.
Dainik Azadi's correspondent M Nurul Islam reports the same scene at Bar Aulia, Uthan Majhi, Baigyar Ghat, Dobhashi Ghat and Golakata Chhattar Majhi Ghat, with some people sorting raw fish, others spreading it in the sun and others gathering what has dried.
Fishers went back to sea on 29 October after a 22-day ban, but have not found the catch they hoped for. Hemanta Jaldas, a fisher from Gohira, said the coast is mainly producing small shrimp, known locally as icha shutki. Ribbonfish and other species are not yet coming in as hoped, though he expects more with the coming tides.
Md Idris, general secretary of the Gohira coastal boat owners' association, said Anwara has more than 7,000 registered fishers, of whom about 800 to 900 make dried fish on the coast. Several hundred more from East Gohira, Ghatkul and Fakirhat dry ribbonfish, Bombay duck, jewfish and mullet on their trawlers. Many who fish in the deep sea make dried fish on their trawlers off Rangabali and Sonadia.
Fisher Kalu Mia said most fishers buy raw fish at wholesale markets to make icha shutki, because it dries quickly, reaches market fast and offers a better chance of profit. It goes to local restaurants and to the Chaktai and Khatunganj wholesale markets in Chattogram.
The fishers say their sun-dried fish contains no harmful chemicals or poison. This season's output, they say, depends on the weather and on how much fish the sea provides.
Source: Dainik Azadi
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