Many families in six upazilas of the district are living solvent lives through catching cuchia (swamp eel), a vulnerable species of fish in Bangladesh.

 Cuchia traders said around 5,000 people of Bejpara, Baisha, Khalkula, Badurgacha, Sundarpur, Hardebpur, Harigobindapur under Kaliganj upazila are involved in catching the fish.

Some families of Shailakupa, Harinakundo and Moheshpur upazilas also catch cuchia and sell it to the local traders.

Gaya Das of Bejpara village said he has been hunting cuchia for 15 years, like other poor people. He said they are now free from debt by catching and selling cuchia.

Dipok Kumar Das and Kishore Kumar Das said they catch cuchia in waterlogged areas of Kezuli water body in Kaliganj upazila, Dopila water body in Kotchandpur upazila, Garaganj Kumar river area in Shailakupa upazila, bus terminal area in Jessore and water bodies and haors in Barisal. 

The fish is sold at Tk 250 to Tk 300 a kg.

Debendra Nath Das of Mahadebpur village in Kaliganj upazila said he catches three to four kgs of fish every day and earns Tk 600 to Tk 700.

Cuchia trader Gopal Chandra Das Goni told this correspondent that he gets profit of Tk 2 lakh every year by investing Tk 7 lakh to Tk 8 lakh. He sends eight to 10 tonnes of the fish to Dhaka every month.

Majid Mollah, a trader at Uttara in Dhaka, said he exports cuchia to China where the demand is high. 

Kaliganj Upazila Fisheries Officer Abdullah Mohammad Saidur Rahman Reza said cuchia is a kind of fish of the eel species and its scientific name is monopterus cuchia.