A rumour that a mermaid had been seen has spread around an old pond at Alalpur village in Ekduaria union of Monohardi upazila, Narsingdi. For the past five days thousands of people a day have been coming from different parts of the country to crowd the pond bank.
The pond belongs to a local resident, Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan, and is about two hundred years old. The owners say silver carp and several other species are farmed in it.
To settle the matter a net was cast in the pond. What came up was silver carp, which means the movement behind the mermaid story was the farmed fish itself.
The owners say the unwanted crowd is severely disturbing the normal conditions of the fish in the pond and has left the family in an awkward position.
The loss is easy to see in farming terms. Constant movement of people on the bank, noise and stones thrown into the water cut the feeding of the fish and set back the weight gain of a growing stock. In a small pond that kind of pressure can show up in production within days.
Once a rumour takes hold locally, a farmer can struggle to manage his own pond. The Monohardi case shows how far five days of talk about one pond can push a family fish farm into uncertainty.
Reported by the Ittefaq digital desk.
Source: Ittefaq
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