10 shrimp hatcheries closed in Cox's Bazar

The crisis has been created following indiscriminate fishing of mother shrimp in the Bay of Bengal. About 50 trawlings (ships to catch fish) have intruded into the territorial waters of Bangladesh from India, Myanmar and Thailand. The trawlings are catching mother shrimps from the Bay of Bengal indiscriminately. But the concerned authorities are indifferent to check the menace. Besides, there is no official policy regarding catching of mother shrimp at Bay.

Khorshed Alam, a shrimp hatchery owner, said at present fry are produced in hatcheries by catching tender aged mother shrimp. As a result, most of the fry become weak and are prone to virus attack resulting in their early death. The crisis prevails here for the last three years, Alam said. Not only this, but an acute crisis of various species of sea fishes is prevailing following indiscriminate fishing of mother shrimp and sea fishes.

Cox's Bazar Shrimp Hatchery Owners Association officials said 10 out of 58 hatcheries set up along the seacoast by spending crores of taka have been closed because of the phenomenon. The rest hatcheries are in a pitiable condition, he said. Many owners are thinking to close down their hatcheries apprehending loss.

Sources in the Shrimp Hatchery Association of Bangladesh said shrimp enclosures were set up on one and a half lakh hectares of land across the country. Fry are supplied to the enclosures from the hatcheries in Cox's Bazar.

Usually, mother shrimps lay eggs during the period from January to March. Fishing in Bay is officially prohibited at that time, but the order is defied.

Over 100 trawlings of four fisheries region of Cox's Bazar, Kutubdia, Saint Martins, Noakhali and Khulna catching various species of fish including including mother shrimps from the sea. Of them, 49 trwlings belong to Bangladesh while over 50 trawlings come from Myanmar, India and Thailand. Not only that the trawlings also catch catch shark and tortoise in deep sea, usually about 150 kilometre off the coast.

Mostafizur Rahman, owner of Niribili Hatchery, the biggest hatchery in Cox's Bazar said mother shrimps are missing due to unrestrained fishing throughout the year. It also causes environmental degradationwhich is the cause of dirus attacks, he said.

Shrimp cultivators are incurring loses due to release of weak and virus affected fry in their enclosures. Shrimps worth crores of taka were damaged in the district recently following attack of virus.

Hatchery owners are now in a miserable condition, said Bangladesh Shrimp Hatchery Association president Lutfur Rahman Kazal. This is mainly due to indiscriminate fishing of mother shrimps, he said. He said sea fish is likely to extinct within two or three years if its indiscriminate catching is not halted without further delay, he said. This will pose a real threat to the hatchery industry. Even two years ago, a mother shrimp was available at between Tk 600-700, but now its price is Tk 4,000. On average 4,000 metric tons of mother shrimps are caught annually from four fisheries region of Bay, said Swapon Chandra Pal, an official of Cox's Bazar Sea Survey, Management and Development Project.

Mother shrimps which are alive are usually sold to different hatcheries at a higher price and dead shrimps are smuggled abroad after being frozen.

Cox's Bazar Shrimp Fry Traders' Cooperative Association president Nur Mohammad said mother shrimps lay about one crore 20 lakh eggs in sea alternately every eight months. But mother shrimps aged 4 to 5 months are sold to hatcheries. Over half of the eggs are damaged because mother shrimps lay eggs before attainment of maturity by producing 50,000 fry only.

District fisheries officer M Kabir Ahmed said at present 49 trawlings are catching fish in the sea. Six of them are duly approved by the government, he said.

During the breeding season, catching of shrimp and other fishes is prohibited, but it is ignored most often, he said. There should be a clear cut law regarding catching of shrimp, he said. Even two years ago a trawling used to catch, on average, 250 mother shrimps but now it catches only 20 to 25 shrimps in each trip, he said. Because of catching of weak mother shrimps, produced fry die in enclosures after being affected by virus causing loss to shrimp cultivators, he added.

Although the government earns at least Tk 200 crore in foreign exchange from this sector every year, but no effective measures are taken to protect mother shrimps at Bay, said shrimp cultivators.