The Alipur-Mohipur port in Patuakhali is one of the main fish landing centres in the country's south. Fishermen around the port have caught hilsa here for years, but for several years now hilsa and other sea fish have been scarce. The fishermen blame illegal trawling boats, which they allege operate with the direct backing of the administration.

Small wooden trawlers are illegally converted into mechanised "trawling trawlers" and fitted with small-mesh behundi nets. With them, a silent destruction is under way in the Bay of Bengal. Nets with half-inch mesh catch the fry of deep and shallow sea fish, egg-bearing brood fish and the fishes' natural food. As a result, fish breeding has fallen alarmingly over the past four to five years and the balance of marine biodiversity is breaking down.

To protect fish resources, marginal fishermen of Kalapara in Patuakhali held a human chain and protest rally demanding an end to the illegal trawling boats and banned nets. On Sunday morning (27 July), around a thousand fishermen from Cox's Bazar, Bhola, Noakhali and other parts of the country joined the human chain at Kuakata Chourasta under the banner of ordinary fishermen, in solidarity with the fishermen of Kalapara upazila.

At the human chain the fishermen alleged that trawler owners first used local technology to fit mechanical net-hauling gear to wooden trawlers, and one owner after another followed. There are now 40-50 such boats at Alipur-Mohipur alone, and at least 20-30 illegal trawling trawlers from Patharghata in neighbouring Barguna also come to the port to fish.

They said the administration in Patharghata had stopped the trawling but "our administration has failed", and the practice has spread to several upazilas of Bhola and as far as Banshkhali in Chattogram.

Alipur fisherman Md Selim Faraji said: "We fishermen are suffering from the shortage of fish, and the illegal trawling boats are ruining the sea's fish. The boat owners buy off the Kuakata naval police and district fisheries officer Kamrul Islam with a lakh taka every month. That is why they see everything and still do nothing to stop the trawling. If they wanted, stopping these would be a one-day job." He said they were appealing to the government to act quickly against these dishonest businessmen and the administration, and that if the government did not stop trawling they would announce a bigger movement.

Md Nizam Sheikh, president of the Kuakata Ashar Alo Fisheries Cooperative Society, told Jagonews: "Converting an ordinary wooden trawler into a trawling boat costs Tk 30 to 40 lakh. The kind of behundi net used on these trawlers lets nothing out but water. Fish fry, eggs and even the fishes' food are destroyed. If these trawlers are not stopped, the rivers and the sea will be emptied of fish. We want to be saved from these dishonest businessmen, these enemies of the country."

Noakhali fisherman Alam Gazi said: "Because the small fish in the sea are being destroyed by the trawling boats, no fish is growing big and no fish is being produced. They are destroying thousands and thousands of fry, so where will the fish in the sea increase from? There is no chance. And the tiny fish they kill they cannot even bring back; they throw them away. At present there are 50 such converted illegal trawlers in Mohipur, 90 in Bhola and around 200 in the Kathkhali area of Chattogram."

Professor Dr Rajib Sarkar of the Department of Fisheries Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Fisheries, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, told Jagonews: "Fishermen's hilsa catch at sea and their living standards are changing a great deal. One of the main reasons is the change in the sea's patterns under climate change. Excessive plastic and polythene is destroying the sea bed, and at the same time hilsa has declined because of illegal nets, which is hurting poor fishermen. I hope hilsa production will rise if the government takes effective steps to stop production of illegal nets, the careless use of plastic and these unregistered trawling boats."

Responding to the allegations, Bikash Mondal, in charge of the Kuakata naval police outpost, told Jagonews: "We are always alert about illegal fishing. But a case over this trawling is pending in court and it will be settled quickly. The allegation against us is completely false. Because we are short of logistics, it is often impossible to carry out drives in the deep sea."

Patuakhali district fisheries officer Kamrul Islam denied the allegation against him. "The owners of these converted trawling trawlers filed a writ in court claiming their illegal trawlers are legal. That will be resolved soon. We have already spoken to the Coast Guard, and drives to stop all illegal trawling will begin soon. The allegation that I take money is completely false and fabricated. When sea trawlers go fishing, they are controlled by the Coast Guard and the naval police," he said.

He added: "There is no scope for paying money in the fisheries department. A quarter is telling these fabricated lies to belittle the administration. The fisheries department has not even given any trawler permission to fish in the sea."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.