An eager wait for spawns ends

Fishermen wait for spawns for hours on the bank of the river Halda. PHOTO: Zobaer Hossain Sikder

The fishes spawn along two kilometres stretch of the river from Angkurighona to Kagotiartek when some 1200 people in around 600 boats are collecting the eggs.

The release of spawns is expected to continue far into the night as some 40 per cent of expected volume of fertilised eggs have been released until the evening, said the sources.

The Halda that flows through Raozan, Hathazari and Fatikchari of north Chittagong is known as "the potential natural breeding ground of carp fish" since time immemorial.

During the Bangla months of Baishakh and Jaishtha (April and May) every year, different species of giant fishes like Ruhi, Katla, Mrigel and Kaliboush start migrating from the rivers Karnaphuli, Matamuhuri and Sangu to the spawning centre at Halda.

At a suitable juncture of dark fortnight or full moon and in congenial weather, particularly at the first shower of the monsoon, they start releasing fertilised eggs (locally known as Swarna Renu - gold sperm) at a 10km stretch from Satterghat to Madunaghat of Raozan upazila.

They spawn at a time or in two to three phases. Each phase continues for around 12 hours when the spawning centre takes a festive look with hundreds of local people in small boats collecting the eggs.

The fertilised eggs are preserved in small holes dug at the homesteads to hatch within four days. The four-day fries are sold at Tk 12,000 to 14,000 per kg to farmers coming from different parts of the country. After some 15 days, one kg of four-day fries produce over two lakh finger-sized fries to earn at least Tk 2 lakh, sources said.

Researchers and fisheries officials said spawn collection from the Halda began in 1945. At that time around 65,000kgs of spawns were collected on an average a year.

Prof Mohammad Ali Azadi, who has been studying spawning and breeding of mild water fishes at the Halda for the last two decades, said the highest quantity of 1.23 lakh kgs of fertilised eggs were collected in the Halda in 1946. It produced 4,111kgs of four-day fries. The present market price of 4111kg four-day fries is about Tk 6 crore.

However, non-spawning until now this year has concerned the district fisheries officials and fry collectors reminding them of almost no spawning in 2004. Besides, collection of fertilised eggs and production of fries marked a sharp decline in the recent years, said the local people.

In the fifties Halda used to provide 70 percent of fries of major carps, sources in the District Fisheries Office (DFO) said. The Padma, Jamuna and Brahmaputra provided the remaining 30 percent, sources added.

But, supply of fries of major carps by the Halda has come down to 33 per cent, said the experts.

They blamed man-made disasters like indiscriminate netting of mother fishes (egg carrying fishes), plying of mechanised boats during the spawning period and loop that disrupt the smooth flow of the river water, for this.

Besides, conventional hatching of spawning reduced the survival rate and production of fries, said the experts.

Hatching of the spawns in clear water of plastic or tiled tanks raises the survival rates to 90 per cent and proper preservation and management of natural spawning and breeding centre alone can flood the country with fishes, they said.

The experts said declaring the 10km of the Halda stretching from Satterghat to Madunaghat as a fish sanctuary is a must for increasing release and collection of spawns.

Besides, the authorities should impose a ban on fishing from late March to early July in the Halda and the other related rivers like the Karnaphuli, the Sangu and the Matamuhuri from where the broad fishes migrate before breeding, they added.

Several primary steps have been taken at both public and private levels for training of poor egg collectors on modern fry-breeding process and awareness campaign to stop killing of mother fishes during the peak season, sources at District Fishery Office said.

But, a project involving around TK 14 crore taken in 2005 in this regard was caught in limbo due to fund constraint, they said.

The project was initiated for rehabilitation of fishermen to check netting of mother fishes, river dredging, renovation of sluice gates, renovation and construction of hatcheries along the banks of the river and for creating awareness among the egg collectors during the spawning period.

The five years of implementation of the project titled "Restoration of natural fish spawning centre at the Halda" was scheduled to start in July last year, sources said.