Fish dry season at Dublarchar ends
Bagerhat Correspondent
The fish dry season at Dublarchar has ended. After fishing in the sea for long 05 months, many fishermen and fish traders have started returning home with the burden of losses.
On the other hand, it is learnt from the Forest Department that the revenue target of the forest department will not be achieved this year.
According to the forest department, the fish dry season in Dublarchar starts in the last week of October every year and ends on March 31, but the forest department has extended the season by 8 days to April 08, taking special consideration of the fishermen request. The fishermen stay at Dublarchar consists of a number of ilands such as Alorkol, Majherkella, Shelarchar and Narikelbaria situated in the Bay of Bengal, attached to the Eastern Sundarbans - to catch fish from the Bay of Bengal and dry them at the Dublarchar Fish drying village.
This year, 10,000 fishermen gathered in Dublarchar. Motsim Faraji, president of the Rampal Fishermen's Association of Alorkol, Farid Mia, fisherman hails from Pirojpur district of Majerkella,Taher Ali (hails from Rampal) the fisherman of Alorkol, Abdul Khalek, a fisherman of Narikelbaria,
Abdur Rahim (hails from Tuskhali in Pirojpur district), a fisherman of Shelarchar said that although the business of a few fishermen is fairly good this year, most of the fishermen have returned home with the burden of losses on their heads.Freedom fighter Md. Kamal Uddin Ahmed,President of Dubla Fishermen Groups said that this year 99 percent of the fishermen of Dubla have returned home with the burden of moneylender debts on their heads.
Abdur Rahim (hails from Tuskhali in Pirojpur district), a fisherman of Shelarchar said that although the business of a few fishermen is fairly good this year, most of the fishermen have returned home with the burden of losses on their heads.Freedom fighter Md. Kamal Uddin Ahmed,President of Dubla Fishermen Groups said that this year 99 percent of the fishermen of Dubla have returned home with the burden of moneylender debts on their heads.
He said that the reason is that the fishermen catch 10 fish in the sea in the 5 months of the season. In the first seven months,there was a natural disaster and the fishermen did not catch much fish in the sea.
In the last three months of the season, the fishermen could not catch fish in the sea due to strong westerly winds and fear of robbers. Even though the fishermen did not catch fish, the forest department had to pay double the revenue. For all these reasons, fishermen and moneylenders are returning home with dirty faces, said the Fishermen Group President. Forester Dilip Majumder, officer-in-charge of the Shelarchar Forest Patrol Outpost in the fishermen&village, said that the five-month dry season in Dublarchar has ended. Most of the fishermen have already left for home and many are breaking down their temporary homes and loading their goods onto boats and trawlers. All fishermen will have to leave Dublarchar by April 08.Forest Ranger Md. Khalilur Rahman (ACF), officer- in-charge of the Dublarchar Forest Patrol Outpost in he fishermen village, said that although the dry season in Dublarchar ended on March 31, the fishermen have been given an extension of time till April 8 due to special considerations. Many fishermen have already left Dublarchar and returned home.
The target of revenue fixed by the Forest Department from this sector will not be achieved this year. This year, the revenue collection from July to March was only Tk.62 million 952 taka. Last year,the revenue collection during the same period was Tk. 72 million 379 thousand 990.
This time, the reason for the revenue shortfall is (1) due to the lack of fish in the sea, (2) natural disasters and (3) fishermen not going to sea due to fear of pirates, said the OC of Dubla Forest Patrol
Outpost.
