Crabs are being caught freely in the Sundarbans in defiance of a ban. Fishers are reported to enter the forest on fishing passes and catch crabs, and Forest Department officers and staff are alleged to be helping them.

Several sources said fishers enter the forest in collusion with officials at various stations and camps in the Sundarbans. Only those who go in without contacting forest officials get caught.

The Sundarbans is one of the main breeding grounds for crabs. Crabs caught there are exported to many countries, earning the government crores of taka in revenue.

Fishers who catch crabs in the Sundarbans, from Nalian and Kalabogi in Dakop upazila and Maheshwaripur and Bagali in Koyra, said crabs release their eggs in the salt water of the mangrove forest during the two-month breeding season. January and February are the breeding season, when catching crabs in the Sundarbans is completely banned. But fishers are entering the forest on fishing passes and catching crabs under secret deals with staff at forest stations and outposts.

According to several sources, there are several crab-catching syndicates in the areas of the Nalian forest station in Dakop and the Maheshwaripur forest station in Koyra upazila, in the Khulna range. They pay the Forest Department Tk 10,000 per boat to enter the forest, so the Forest Department and the SMART team do not come anywhere near them while they catch crabs. Whenever a senior official enters the Sundarbans, the fishers are informed. Hundreds of boats are now in the Sundarbans to catch crabs.

Md Babul, a crab catcher in the Kashiabad station area, told Jago News: "In the breeding season, demand and prices for egg-bearing mother crabs are much higher than at other times of year. That is why catchers enter the forest any way they can. At present one kg of FF-1 crab costs Tk 1,700 to 1,800, and the price may rise further."

Shahadat Hossain, station officer of Nalian forest station, claimed that no one can enter the Sundarbans now, and that the claim that fishers are let in for money is propaganda.

Kashiabad station officer Shyama Prasad said those who cannot loot the Sundarbans are spreading propaganda. "No one is being allowed into the forest at this time. Anyone who enters by stealth is being brought to book," he said.

Khulna divisional forest officer Dr Abu Saleh Md Mohasin Hossain said catching crabs in the breeding season is completely banned, so there is no way to enter the Sundarbans now. The Sundarbans is monitored at all times using technology, he said: no one can enter at will, and cameras have been installed everywhere.

He added that action would be taken against any Forest Department officer or employee found to be involved in crab catching.

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