A fish sanctuary has started contributing a lot towards protecting and conserving the small indigenous species in the Padma river and its tributaries. Shafiul Alam Mukta, a fisherman of Pirijpur village under Godagari Upazila, along with his friend Sharat Chandra initiated the sanctuary near his village in 2014 and attained success in the same year. Forty young men of the area also extended their hands with him and now, within just two years of starting of the project in an experimental basis, Mukta has now founded a large fish sanctuary in the river Padma. They motivated local fishermen of abstaining from fishing of any sort of fish from that captive water body for next eight months. With the banning of catching fish from the sanctuary for eight months, a large number of fish of various local species breed there and fishermen of adjacent water bodies started to catch varieties of endangered and rare species of fish from there. The news ultimately reached to the local officials of the Department of Fisheries who rushed to the spot and praised Mukta for his effort. Talking to the news agency Mukta says fishing at the sanctuary with net is prohibited but one can catch fish there by using a fishing rod or fishing wheel. The Department of Fisheries extended its hands to cooperate Mukta in 2015. The same year some 500 square metre area was declared as fish sanctuary on the river Padma and that year was also a success and in 2016 one square kilometre area has been declared as fish sanctuary on the river near Pirijpur. The area includes roving and breeding ground for fishes. Meanwhile, many fish hunters from around the region were seen rushing here now to catch fish with rods and wheels. Since varieties of rare and endangered small and medium sized fishes are not caught by rods and wheels, those fishes were now being released or visiting to various branches and tributaries of the river Padma. Witnessing their magical success, officials of the Department of Fisheries (DoF) stand beside them. “So far, 85 native fish species have been found at the sanctuary of Mukta,” said Naimul Haque, Assistant Fisheries officer of Godagari upazila. There are also a large number of Hilsha fish as well. Moreover the fishes which were supposed to be extinct from the region for a long time were also seen to roam at the sanctuary. Senior Upazila Fisheries Officer Shamsul Karim said Padma feeds water in its 27 branches and tributaries and a lot of rare and endangered fish stocks are being released there from this sanctuary in Godagari. He said the encouraging youths were working for fish sanctuary without any monetary benefit. They do not have any income from the fish sanctuary. But the department of fisheries under its Extension of Pischiculture Technology at the Union Levels’ programme has allowed them to cultivate fish on floating cage inside the sanctuary.
2016 www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com