Our Correspondent
RAJSHAHI, Dec 15: A water sanctuary created on the river Padma near Godagari upazila of the district is proving success in conserving indigenous riverine fish varieties of the country.
The water sanctuary (reservoir) known as Minkut-Jafrabad sanctuary is expected to produce varieties of indigenous riverine fishes worth about Tk 30 million every year.
The sanctuary is not only a source of riverine fish and its conservation but also a source of income and employment of several thousand young men of the area.
The fish which are now being available at Minkut-Jafrabad sanctuary belonged to riverine pangas, bagha-air, aire, ritha, ruhi, katla, kalboush, boal, chitol and several hundred varieties of small fry fishes like puthi, piyali, ural, kakla, chanda, ghara, bancha, bashpata and pabda, guchi, bain, aikhor, bata, tengra, chingri or shrimp, balia, chela, boumach, maoa and batul.
The government took the project in 2008 on 510 hectares of water bodies on the Padma which is situated at the confluence of Padma and Mohananda extended from Rail Bazar of Godagari to Sultanganj near Chapainwabganj border.
Soon after the sanctuary was created, a ban on fishing in the water of the river covering the area was imposed by local administration.
This year also the restriction in fishing at the sanctuary area was imposed from early rainy season, though many ignorant people, mainly fishermen catch fishes there by defying the ban.
While people involved in enforcing the ban forbade those fishermen to stop fishing there, they often locked in altercation with them and continued to catch fish there.
Godagari upazila fisheries officer Amjad Hossain with the help of Upazila Nirbahi Officer and the member of law enforcement agency recently intensified patrolling along the sanctuary areas.
People living at the surrounding areas of the sanctuary were alarmed through microphone announcement of punitive measures in violation of the restrictions.
As a result of such actions, people do not dare to visit the water body during day time, but at night they allegedly catch fishes from the sanctuary by evading vigilance of law enforcement agency members.
It was also impossible to guard the huge water body on the river Padma regularly. As a result, local beneficiaries including Mahtab Uddin and Golam Gousul Azam in Bidirpur area have demanded to deploy river police at the site of the sanctuary so that none of the fisherman dare to fish inside the sanctuary area.
According to sources, the government allocated Tk 0.5 million this year for the conservation and releasing of fish fries in the sanctuary. Fish worth Tk 30 million is expected to produce this year from this sanctuary.
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