Fish drying in full swing on Sundarbans islands
Sunday, 21 November 2010
SUNDARBANS, Nov 20 (BSS): Traditional fish drying activities have gained momentum on some of the islands of the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world, with onset of the five- month season in October last.
Many moneymakers employing huge laborers together with bulk investment have appeared on the islands and are running their fish drying activities in brisk amidst suitable weather along with massive labor-exploitation and physical torture on the contrary.
While visiting some of the drying points including Dublar Char (Alore Cole) and Meher Ali recently this correspondent found that the activities are labor- intensive with multipurpose functions.
Talking to the news agency , many of the labors including Shahidul of Satkhira, Year Nabi of Khulna, Abdul Haque and Shahid of Bagerhat, Raju of Comilla, Abdur Rahman of Narayanganj and Ziban Chowdhury of Kishoreganj narrated their grim picture.
All of them are escapees from Meher Ali Island and took shelter at Dublar Char saying that the long distance waterway and absence of mobile network are the main reasons behind their dismal position.
According to the sources concerned, the labors are getting wages from Tk 12,000 to 35,000 based on the gravity of works for the five-month season.
Some biologists and other researchers accompanied by more than 20 post- graduate level students of Zoology Department of Rajshahi University and Fisheries and Marine Resource Technology Discipline of Khulna University also observed the activities while conducting a ground level study on drying fish at different points of the vast forest.
The research on identifying adaptive capacity would give a clue to the suitability of species in terms of moderate and high saline and drought environments, which will ultimately be cultured by the affected people for their livelihood outside the institution.
DFID under its Development Partnerships in Higher Education (round-4) Project supported the study aimed at capacity building to address the impact of climate change in Bangladesh and Ghana with special reference to conservation of saline and drought tolerant species.
During the visit, thousands of people 10-70 age group was found engaged in the activities comprising fish collection from deep and semi-deep sea, pre-drying sorting, drying, post-drying sorting, storing, packaging and carrying.
Most of those were migrated labour from different nearby districts as well as from Chittagong and Dhaka divisions.
Many others were also found engaged in various other works like net repairing, cooking meal and making thatched houses.
These dry fish commonly known as 'sutki' is exported to domestic and foreign markets as protein and delicious food.
According to sources concerned, Dublar Char is an island famous for drying fish during the month of October-February. Around 1800 trawlers alongside around 15,000 people were found engaged on the island during the current season.
The place is also famous for religious festival of Hindu community popularly known as "Rashmela" that takes place on November 19 every year.
Visitors come here to see the life of fisherman and their unique fish drying process.
Team Leader Prof Dr Bidhan Chandra Das of Rajshahi University told the news agency that dry fish has a constant domestic market and the by- catch or bulk catch in the sea is difficult to transport to the landing centre for fresh consumption.
In most of the cases, fishermen could not travel far distances to market their catch and were compelled to sell their catch to the nearby islands for drying or they themselves landed the catch in the nearby islands and dried the same and store for sell.
However, Prof Bidhan Das said the only alternative is to dry them up in hygienic condition without adding harmful chemicals.
These dry fish has a good export market as well in Europe, America and other Asian countries.
Quoting various research findings Prof Das mentioned that around 7.3 million coastal fishing villagers are almost dependent on fishing for their livelihoods and twenty per cent of total marine catch was dried round the year and those were marketed both in the domestic and in the international markets.
Besides, he said the dry fish and its wastes are also used as an important raw material for fish feed and poultry feed industries.
Many moneymakers employing huge laborers together with bulk investment have appeared on the islands and are running their fish drying activities in brisk amidst suitable weather along with massive labor-exploitation and physical torture on the contrary.
While visiting some of the drying points including Dublar Char (Alore Cole) and Meher Ali recently this correspondent found that the activities are labor- intensive with multipurpose functions.
Talking to the news agency , many of the labors including Shahidul of Satkhira, Year Nabi of Khulna, Abdul Haque and Shahid of Bagerhat, Raju of Comilla, Abdur Rahman of Narayanganj and Ziban Chowdhury of Kishoreganj narrated their grim picture.
All of them are escapees from Meher Ali Island and took shelter at Dublar Char saying that the long distance waterway and absence of mobile network are the main reasons behind their dismal position.
According to the sources concerned, the labors are getting wages from Tk 12,000 to 35,000 based on the gravity of works for the five-month season.
Some biologists and other researchers accompanied by more than 20 post- graduate level students of Zoology Department of Rajshahi University and Fisheries and Marine Resource Technology Discipline of Khulna University also observed the activities while conducting a ground level study on drying fish at different points of the vast forest.
The research on identifying adaptive capacity would give a clue to the suitability of species in terms of moderate and high saline and drought environments, which will ultimately be cultured by the affected people for their livelihood outside the institution.
DFID under its Development Partnerships in Higher Education (round-4) Project supported the study aimed at capacity building to address the impact of climate change in Bangladesh and Ghana with special reference to conservation of saline and drought tolerant species.
During the visit, thousands of people 10-70 age group was found engaged in the activities comprising fish collection from deep and semi-deep sea, pre-drying sorting, drying, post-drying sorting, storing, packaging and carrying.
Most of those were migrated labour from different nearby districts as well as from Chittagong and Dhaka divisions.
Many others were also found engaged in various other works like net repairing, cooking meal and making thatched houses.
These dry fish commonly known as 'sutki' is exported to domestic and foreign markets as protein and delicious food.
According to sources concerned, Dublar Char is an island famous for drying fish during the month of October-February. Around 1800 trawlers alongside around 15,000 people were found engaged on the island during the current season.
The place is also famous for religious festival of Hindu community popularly known as "Rashmela" that takes place on November 19 every year.
Visitors come here to see the life of fisherman and their unique fish drying process.
Team Leader Prof Dr Bidhan Chandra Das of Rajshahi University told the news agency that dry fish has a constant domestic market and the by- catch or bulk catch in the sea is difficult to transport to the landing centre for fresh consumption.
In most of the cases, fishermen could not travel far distances to market their catch and were compelled to sell their catch to the nearby islands for drying or they themselves landed the catch in the nearby islands and dried the same and store for sell.
However, Prof Bidhan Das said the only alternative is to dry them up in hygienic condition without adding harmful chemicals.
These dry fish has a good export market as well in Europe, America and other Asian countries.
Quoting various research findings Prof Das mentioned that around 7.3 million coastal fishing villagers are almost dependent on fishing for their livelihoods and twenty per cent of total marine catch was dried round the year and those were marketed both in the domestic and in the international markets.
Besides, he said the dry fish and its wastes are also used as an important raw material for fish feed and poultry feed industries.