Sundarbans dry fish village resumes collecting fishes

Bagerhat Correspondent :

Dry fish collection season has already been started at Dubla dry fish village, situated on the bank of the Bay of Bengal within Sharankhola Forest Range under the Eastern Division of Sundarbans in Bagerhat district on Friday last.
After procuring pass and permits from the forest department fishermen, dry fish traders generally known as Bahaddars, labourers and shop-keepers began to reach Dubla, the biggest sea fish dry village in the country from Mongla, Rampal, Morrelgamj, Kachua and Sharankhola Upazilas of Bagerhat district and some other places of the coastal districts like Chottogram by fishing trawlers and boats carrying different kinds of fishing nets and equipment and temporary construction materials from the mid night of Thursday (November 02) and after reaching there (Dubla) on Friday morning the fishermen already started to catch fish from the deep sea. This year the fishermen and concerned others after procuring the permits from the forest department assembled at Mongla and left the place on November 02 at the mid night for Dubla dry fish village. This dry fish village consists of 6 small islands named Alorkol, Meher Alir Char, Majher Killa, Office Killa, Shelar Char and Narikelbaria is 75 nautical miles away from the human habitation of Sharankhola Upazila (in Bagerhat district).
Rana Deb, ACF (Assistant Conservator of Forests, Sadar) of the Eastern Division of Sundarbans told, catching of fish and the processing of drying the same started at Dubla dry fish village on November 03 and it will continue till 31st March, 2024 and fishermen and concerned others will stay there for long 5 months. During the period they will have to live in the temporary shelters on the bank of the Bay of Bengal.
Previously the fish drying processing season used to start at Dubla dry fish village in the middle of the month of October and it continued till the end of the month of March. But for imposing ban on the catching of hilsa from the sea and the rivers some 22 days (from 12th October to November 02) were curtailed from the fish drying season. So, now the fish drying season starts on November 03. During the period 10 thousand to 15 thousand fishermen and dry fish traders (known as Bahaddars) assemble there to catch different spices of sea fish using at least 30 kinds of fishing nets and dry them in the bright sun light. Huge quantities of dry fish collected from Dubla dry fish village every year is imported to the foreign countries after meeting up the local requirements.
The ACF (of the Eastern Division) told, no trees and plants of Sundarbans (forest) cannot be used for the construction of the temporary shelters. So, the fishermen and concerned others are reaching Dubla fish drying village carrying all the necessary materials, as per the direction of the Forest Department. Dilip Majumdar, Officer-in-charge of Alorkol Island based temporary Camp of the forest department and Dubla-fisherman Patrol outpost of the forest department told, the fishermen started for Dubla at mid night and reached there in Friday (Nov.03) morning and they began to construct temporary shelters on the bank of the Bay of Bengal and it will take time for few days.
On the other hand, just after reaching Dubla fisherman village unloaded necessary materials and equipments like Machan (platforms) and Chatals (terraces) many of them went to the sea to catch fish and some of them already returned to Dubla fish drying village after catching the fish. It is learnt from the forest department that at least 10 thousand fishermen will be assembled at the different islands of Dublarchar fisherman village along with 1,500 fishing trawlers from the different coastal districts to catch different spices of fish from the deep sea. After then the fish will be sorted and dried under sunlight. Later, the dried fish, locally known as “Shutki”, will be supplied to the different commercial places of the country and abroad.
It is learnt from the Eastern Division of Sundarbans that this year fishermen and Bahaddaras are allowed to construct some 1,108 scaffolds (temporary Machan Ghar) and 78 fish depots at Dubla fish dry village. But they are not allowed to use any forest resources like wood, Gol leaves etc. for their purposes at all. On the other hand, seasonal traders are allowed to open 99 temporary shops there in order to supply the daily necessaries to the fishermen and fish traders as per their requirements. The fishermen were warned by the forest department not to enter into Sundarbans anyway.