Aila causes colossal damage to Patuakhali fish resources

Washes away 2,214 tonne shrimp
Nikhil Chatterjee . Patuakhali

THE cyclone Aila that hit the country's south-western region on May 25 caused a colossal damage to fish resources in the coast district Patuakhali.
Tidal surges triggered by the storm submerged most part of the district washing away shrimp from 1,617 enclosures and fish from about 50,000 ponds.
A large number of fishermen also lost their fishing net, trawlers and boats in the onslaughts of tidal waves.
Although the government estimate showed that the loss in the district's fishery sector would be
Tk 166 crore, the figure will be much higher, said sources in the fish cultivators.
According to sources in the District Fishery Office, Patuakhali, tidal waves up to 10 to 12 feet high that kept the district submerged for seven hours washed away more than 2,214 tonnes of shrimp from 1617 farms on 5,293 hectares of land.
The tidal surges also washed away more than 3,500 tonnes of fish from 49,290 ponds.
Moreover, around 8,000 fishermen were badly affected by the cyclone as they lost their fishing net, trawlers and fishing boats.
Kalapara, Bauphal and Galachipa are the worst-affected upazilas which lost shrimp from 1,365 enclosures and fish from 12,700 ponds.
The loss incurred by the three upazilas has been estimated at Tk 206 crore.
Md. Nazrul Islam and Md Mizanur Rahman, president and secretary of the District Shrimp Farm Owners respectively told New Age that almost all owners established shrimp farms taking loan from bank.
But the cyclone Aila shattered all their hopes.
Before this, the 'Sidr' was destroyed their shrimp farms and they had compelled to face a huge amount of money.
They did not get any kind of assistance from
the government for re-establishing their farms again, the leaders alleged.
Md Siddiqur Rahman, an owner of a shrimp farm at Char Montaj under Galachipa upazila of the district said, 'After a huge loss, I re-established my shrimp farm on 12 acres of land. I went to the different schedule banks for loan to re-establish my shrimp farm, but I was regretted from there.
On interest, I have taken loan from my relatives and friends after the cyclone 'Aila'. I do not know, what will be happened in the next days'.

New Age BD. 21 july, 2009

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What lies beneath

10 ft layer of polythene under Buriganga

Morshed Ali Khan

A ten-feet layer of discarded polythene bags, plastics, coconut shells, and heavy sludge created by millions of tons of biodegradable waste from kitchen markets now cover the bed of the river Buriganga.

The highest concentration of these deadly wastes have settled on the bed of the river near Sadarghat launch terminal in the capital, one of the busiest river ports in South-East Asia, according to Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) sources.

One of the main sources of this huge amount of polythene on the riverbed is Dhaka City Corporation's (DCC) conservancy department.

Along Shaheed Nagar, Kamrangir Char, Showari Ghat, Waiz Ghat, and Shyam Bazar -- DCC conservancy workers empty their bins of household rubbish into the river everyday. Household rubbish contains a large number of polythene bags, which are too dirty for the tokais (street urchins) to sort out for sales for recycling.

DCC conservancy department's second-in-command, Dewan Shah Alam, admitted that such irregularities are taking place along the river Buriganga, but added that most of the dumping is done by private household garbage collectors, not the DCC trucks.

"We have strict instructions for all our staff involved in garbage disposal, not to dump waste anywhere other that the designated site at Amin Bazar," Shah Alam said.

BIWTA sources said the situation in the river is almost out of their hand with limited resources and also due to a lack of proper directions. They said they do not have adequate manpower to stop the dumping of rubbish into the river, which takes place all along the flood protection embankment. There are instances when DCC conservancy workers 'signed deals' with river grabbers, and dumped truck loads of household rubbish into the river. Such dumping usually takes place so early in the morning that officials, who should be monitoring, are hardly awake let alone being on the spot.

"I can show you, between Mohammadpur and Postagola more than 50 sites where DCC is dumping rubbish," said a BIWTA official requesting anonymity.

On the slope of the flood protection embankment at Kamrangir Char, dozens of female workers can be regularly found washing and drying huge polythene sheets. They said they buy those sheets from business establishments in Nawabpur and Mitford areas, from garment factories, and from the tokais.

"After buying these dirty sheets we wash and dry them on the embankment and carefully pack them for reselling by weight to buyers, who pay us good prices. Why should we discard them into the river, recycling is our livelihood," said Moina Begum, when asked how so many polythene bags found their way to the riverbed.

Moina's co-worker Hafiza Khatun pointed her finger at a dumping site on the slope of the embankment, and said most of the small polythene in household rubbish piles end up into the river because those cannot be sorted out easily.

On one Friday afternoon, Sadarghat Launch Terminal area was a chaotic crossroad with thousands of passengers, coolies, traders, squatters, and beggars milling around. On the shore between the concrete terminal and the jetty -- human excreta, piles of coconut shells, polythene bags, and an array of rubbish were lying around.

A dozen launches were anchored at the jetty. Vendors selling coconuts, lychees, bombay-mix, puffed rice, bread, and fruits were using the river as a dumping ground.

"The accumulation of polythene and other wastes is so deep and solid that it might not be possible to remove the wastes with a dredger, we might have to do it manually," said an official of BIWTA.

The government banned production, marketing, and use of polythene bags in 2002. An offender under the law may be sentenced to ten years of imprisonment and fined Tk 10 lakh.

Daily Star

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সেন্ট মার্টিনে বিরল সানফিশ

গত ২ এপ্রিল সেন্ট মার্টিন দ্বীপের দক্ষিণ-পশ্চিমে ৫০-৭০ কিমি দূরে জেলেদের জালে বিরল সামুদ্রিক মাছ “সামুদ্রিক সানফিশ” ধরা পড়েছে। এটি “স্লেন্ডার সানফিশ” নামেও পরিচিত। মাছটি অত্যন্ত বিরল এবং বাংলাদেশের জলসীমায় এটি আগে কখোনো দেখা যায়নি। ৬০-৮০ ফুট অগভীর সমুদ্রে ধরা পড়ার পর বয়স্ক জেলেরাও অবাক হয়ে যায়। এটি বর্তমানে কক্সবাজারে নির্মানাধীন পানওয়া বে পার্ক (Panowa Bay Park) যাদুঘরে সংরক্ষণ করা হয়েছে। পার্কের জীববিজ্ঞানী রাগিব উদ্দিন আহমেদ এটি স্লেন্ডার সানফিশ হিসেবে সনাক্ত করেন। পরে তিনি এটি সংরক্ষণের উদ্দ্যোগ নেন।
মলিয়েডি পরিবাবারভূ্ক্ত স্লেন্ডার সানফিশের বিজ্ঞানসম্মত নাম Ranzania laevis. স্লেন্ডার সানফিশ বেশী পাওয়া যায় কোরাল দ্বীপের আশেপাশে। মাছটি কোরাল খেয়েই বেঁচে থাকে। দৈর্ঘে আড়াই ফুট এবং ওজনে প্রায় ৬ কেজি। এদের আছে টিউবের মত মুখ যা কোরাল ও শৈবাল চুষে খেতে সহায়ক। এদের লেজ দেখতে অদ্ভুত যা দেখে মনে হয় কেউ যেন মাঝখান দিয়ে কেটে অর্ধেক করে দিয়েছে।
জনাব রাগিব গত ২০০২ এর অক্টোবরে ইন্দোনেশিয়ার তুলামবেন বালি তে (Tulamben Bali, Indonesia) এই প্রজাতির মাছ দেখেছেন বলে দাবি করেন। তিনি ন্যাশনাল এ্যসোসিয়েশন অফ আন্ডারওয়াটার ইন্সট্রাক্টরস, ইউএসএ লাইসেন্সপ্রাপ্ত একজন স্কুবা ডাইভার। তাঁর মতে অতিমাত্রায় মৎস্য আহরন, সেন্ট মার্টিন দ্বীপের কোরাল বিনষ্ট হওয়া, মাছ ধরায় পরিবেশ অবান্ধব পদ্ধতির ব্যবহার ইত্যাদি সমুদ্রের মৎস্য সম্পদ বিশেষত: বিরল প্রজাতির মাছের জন্য হুমকি হয়ে দাঁড়িয়েছে।
সূত্র: নিসর্গ

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