Traders eye substantial income as ied fish production begins

PABNA, Nov 09: Fish traders in Chalan Beel area of the district are expecting to make a substantial income from production of export quality dry fish in the current season.
They are seeking government patronisation to boost up this sector of the economy.
Every year during the period of Bangla months Kartik-Agrahayan, smell of dried fish floats in the air of Chalan Beel with the start of the dried fish production.
Drying of fish starts in a limited scale from Bhadra month but in the months of Kartik-Agrahayan, the work of drying fish goes on in full swing.
Traders in Chalan Beel area have started the business with an intense desire for making handsome profit as their produced dry fish has a high demand at home and abroad.
Hundreds of women and men in the area are now busy washing, drying and sorting the fish from morning till night.
The smell of dried fish wafts through anyone's nose while crossing the area by traveling on the road.
Apart from this, fish is dried in Tarash, Raiganj, Ulapara of Sirajganj, Chatmohar of Pabna, Bhangura, Faridpur, Singra of Natore, Gurdaspur and Atraiupazila of Naogaon as traders set up attics.
Kai, magur, baim, rui, katla, mrigel, baush, ayr, baghair, chital, foli, boal, pabda, tengra, shaul, gajar, taki, nadai, shing, khalisha, puti, shrimp and chang fishes are found to be dried commercially.
Fishermen used to catch fish with the help of different types of fishing equipment. During the rainy season, fishes were sent to different parts of the country. The surplus fishes were then dried.
Dried fishes were sent to different places of the country including Dhaka, Mymensingh, Narayanganj, Syedpur and Nilphamari.
With the passage of time, many of the fish species are now on the verge of extinction. Although the species and quantity of fish have decreased, about one hundred dry fish traders and thousands of dry fish workers still make a living by drying fish here.
Rafiqul Islam, a dry fish trader from Binayekpur village in Ullaparaupazila in Sirajganj, said at present, raw puti fish is being sold at Tk 40 to 60, chanda at Tk 80 to 95, khalisha at Tk 40 to 45 and shrimp at Tk 60 to 90 per kg.
When 40 kg of raw fish is dried, 13 kg of dried fish is made.
At present, dry fish of puti is being sold at Tk 130 to 200 per kg, chanda at Tk120 to 150, khalisha at Tk140 to 145 and shrimp at Tk160 to 190 per kg.
Regarding the wages of the workers, he said, at present the male workers are working at Tk300 and the women workers at Tk 150 per day.
Nannu Hossain, of Shapgari village in Gurudaspur, who has been trading dried fish for about 25 years, said there is a huge demand in India for puti fish produced from Chalon Beel area. "It costs us a lot to send fish to India. Traders have suffered big losses so far this year due to the effects of coronavirus.
Delwar Hossain, a dry fish trader from Sekendaspur village in Salangar upazila in Sirajganj, said he had lost about Tk 100,000 last year. He is expecting to make a good profit this year as price of their produced dry fish is satisfactory.
Some traders said the dried fish business depends on luck. They are suffering because there is no storage facility for processed dried fish in Chalon Beel area.
Mahbubur Rahman, a senior upazila fisheries officer in Chatmohar, said every year from the end of October till November, a lot of fish is caught in Chalon Beel area. Most of the fish are going out now as there are good prices of raw fish in the market.
The dry fish traders of the area will benefit if the Chalan Beel-based dry fish sales centre and storage centre are constructed.
Traders and workers are busy making dried fish of native species in more than three hundred dried fish sheds in the region.
Deputy Commissioner of Pabna Kabir Mahmud said there is a huge demand for dried fish of Chalon Beel across the country.
With the recession of water, a large number of different types of fishes are being caught, the DC added.

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