In Tarash upazila of Sirajganj district, the familiar fishing scene in the mud is disappearing.
With the evolution of time, the scene of fishing by irrigating canals and fields in rural Bengal is disappearing day by day. During the monsoons, the low lands of rural Bengal, canals, ponds and drains would be submerged in water. Again at the beginning of Hemant, after the water receded, the people of the village used to use different methods (irrigation pump/artificial method) to dry the water and catch fish. The fishing scene of that time is not commonly seen anymore.
Once the canals, ponds, ponds and fields dry up, a little water irrigation is done with pots or tubs. And pond water is irrigated with pump machine. After the water dries up, the fishing festival begins. During the fishing festival, the people of the village used to rejoice. With joy, people put their hands in the empty water mud of ponds, ponds, canals and brought out fish one after another. In addition to farmed fish in irrigated ponds, a variety of indigenous species are available. And various native species of fish such as shoal, taki, punti, khalse, koi, magur, shing, tanga can be found in the fields and ponds.
Surface fishing was seen in the canals and fields of some areas including Mathurapur village of Tarash Upazila, Sadar UP. That is comparatively very less. After visiting different areas of the upazila and talking to fishermen, they said that at the beginning of the month of Agrahayan, as the water in the rivers, canals and canals decreased, the submerged fields began to dry up. Different types of native fish are trapped in these places where the water dries up. And at that time, we are a group of fish hunters, using different methods to completely dry the water and go down into the wet water to catch fish with our hands. But due to the lack of fish in the river, there are almost no fish in the ponds and canals.
Locals said that every year after the end of the rainy season, when the water recedes, such a fishing festival was held in the low lands of this area. In that festival, men and women, boys and old people used to enjoy fishing. The competition is about who can catch more fish in the water.
They also said that earlier, many varieties of local fish were caught in this way, but now they are not. There is no such abundance of fish. As the fish sanctuary is constantly decreasing, the fishing festival does not accumulate as before. Local fish sources are gradually disappearing.
70-year-old Md. Chanu Mia, a 70-year-old resident of Kaurail village of Tarash municipal area, lamented that the scene of returning home with fish from canals and canals at the end of the day is not so visible now. In our time, we used to dry the fish and store it dry. The smell of panch mishali fish cooking spread throughout the neighborhood. But now it is not spread like before.
Tarash Upazila Fisheries Officer said that if we can reduce the excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in the land along with preventing the use of current nets, China nets, hand-pulled thick current nets, local fishes will be able to breed at least during the monsoon season. Our fisheries office conducts operations against current nets, china nets and other prohibited nets every monsoon.
