Killing fish stocks in Sundarbans

Fisherfolk in the Sundarbans wilfully ignore the government ban on the use of fine-mesh current nets which is fast depleting various species of fish in the area. The livelihoods of a few hundred fishermen and their families operating in Khulna's Dacope upazilla depend on their catching fish and juvenile shrimp. Although it is the job of the forest department to work with the Coast Guard to enforce the ban on the use of illegal variety of net, there is little by way of enforcement of the law.

A recent report in this paper has revealed that there is a nexus between some unscrupulous forest department officials and traders which lets this unhealthy practice to continue. We are disheartened to see authorities turning a blind eye to the rampant use of banned fine-mesh fishing nets in the protected mangrove forest of the Sundarbans, home to many unique species of fish.

With the gradual reduction of fish that are indigenous to the waterways in and around the Sundarbans, environmental experts calculate that fisherfolk are destroying on average around 200 fish fry to catch one juvenile shrimp. The result of such irresponsible behaviour is the havoc that is caused to the natural breeding patterns of many types of fish and the decline in fish stocks is a natural result. The government should help these few hundred fishermen and their families to adopt alternative means of livelihood and haul up the corrupt officials who connive in this illegal activity and make examples of them.