Gazipur floodplain fish project a great success

The night is dark, the weather cold. Through winter's silence, I move from Kashimpur in Gazipur towards Namabazar. The clock says it's the time when the world is supposed to rest, when people usually sleep. But with activity, Namabazar is alive. Hundreds of people work tirelessly in these wee hours. Would you believe it? They're here for one thing: fish.

Partners, labourers and buyers busy at auction, all are busy. Freezer vans are available, ready to transport fish across the country. For fisher folk on the 3,000 acre floodplain of Kashimpur there is no difference between night and day, during this season. A unique, fish farming cooperative has made the floodplain a place of handsome profit.

"I buy at least two tonnes of fish every night," says Kismat Ali Sarker, a wholesaler.

"There are 120 shareholders in this project," says Mahbub, one of the project's main entrepreneurs. "Each holds a Tk. 50,000 share."

It's an unlikely site for fish cultivation. While in the 1980s when I first visited this area it was strictly rural, these days the area is surrounded by mills and factories, houses and small businesses. Nobody can deny Gazipur's status as a captain of industry here.

Yet in Kashimpur are advantages. The fish quality is high, sales are good and wholesalers pay at the time of purchase. "With 8 trawlers and 2 switch gates for water control, the project has already realised Tk 2.5 crore this year and based on the remaining fish, we are hoping to make around Tk 8 crore in total."

Mahboob took me into the floodplain to see, but sight is near impossible in the darkness, of added intensity away from factory glow, out on the water. Fishers like Sohel and his friends are still working hard, netting mainly small fish with the larger fish for the year having already been caught and sold. It can't be easy to work in this cold but boy, fish are aplenty!

By the time we're done the sun is rising. Local customers have started arriving at the wholesale market. An example for the many riparian lands across Bangladesh, the morning crowd is gathering in Namabazar, beside the floodplain. They're all here for one thing: fish.