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SOUTH ASIAN NEWS-FEATURE SERVICE
Ultra poor fishermen in dire distress
By Julhas Ripon
DHAKA:SAN-Feature Service : Thousands of fishermen in Bangladesh are in dire distress due to ‘unlawful’ government ban on netting fishes for six months in the name of protecting the fish species in the major rivers.
When the laws of the lands do not allow the government to impose any blanket ban on netting fish and when there is a rule from the High Court upon the government for allowing the fishermen to catch fish in rivers, the poor fishermen are continuing their struggle to survive.
There is no alternative arrangements from the government for the survival of these ultra-poor .The fishermen, in tousands, have no other option for survival, reveals an investigation of the SAN-Feature Service.
Poor fishermen living in different chars of the world’s largest mangrove forest Sundarban are trapped in ‘dadan’ (debt), as they are not capable of returning borrowed money to the lenders this time due to the abrupt ban on fishing of shrimp fry in the coastal rivers. The dadan is a traditional money-lending system in rural
Following the strict enforcement of the ban since November last, the fishermen are in great distress due to the sudden shrinking of their lone income source . As the indiscriminate fry collection from coastal rivers is destructive, the government banned collection of shrimp fry and other fishes from the coastal belt through promulgation of a law in September 2000, though it was not enforced strictly then .
Villagers at Joymoni under
The situation is the same in other villages such as Holdeyboni, Bouddabari, Katakhali, Sundartola, Telikhali, Amtola, Kalatola, Keyaboni, Jipdhora, Amarboina and Kuchgonia. The villagers said that about 80 per cent of them have no land to cultivate and, as their main profession is in a critical situation and they have no other alternative to fishing, they are in no position to return the money to the dadan-wallahs.
The villagers of the nearby area mainly used to collect shrimp fry from the river Pashur, a major river that flows through the world’s largest coastal mangrove forest. “We understand the government’s concern, but what will we do to earn a living?” asked Aman Gazi, a fisherman at Joymoni Bazar in Chilai Union Parishad under
He said he had a family of five and had no land other than the site of his hut. “Then how can we survive if I am not allowed to catch shrimp fry?” he questioned.
Gazi said he took Tk 20,000 as loan from a local influential shrimp businessman last year, but he could not supply the shrimp fry to him though he had used the money for buying nets and related purposes. “I have only repaid Tk 3,000, but now he wants me to return the rest of the amount,” Gazi said sadly, adding that the money-lender recently threatened him with dire consequences.
The other villagers, who have some arable lands in the area, were also dependent on catching shrimp fry or doing shrimp fry business. They said due to abnormal increase of salinity in the land in the last few years, the production of rice and other crops has declined significantly.
Villager Mohammed Sultan Gazi said that they can produce only eight maunds of Amon rice in one bigha (33 decimals), which is not economically viable. “I am lucky that I have some land, but most of the villagers are in tremendous trouble for lack of cash,” he added.
On the other hand, the dadan-wallahs are also in a dilemma as a huge amount of their money is in the fishermen’s hands. “I lent Tk 2 lakh to the fishermen, but I cannot get back the money from them,” said Sheikh Abul Kashem, a dadan-wallah. “Now I do not know what will happen to my family if I lose the amount.”
The forest department officials said that they have no plan to withdraw the ban as the government has taken the issue seriously.
“We want to continue the ban for the sake of increasing and protecting fish population in the coastal belt,” said Mohammed Ali Kabir Haider, forest conservator in the
In Chandpur, the livelihood crisis is in such a state that the ultra-poor fishermen are struggling to feed their family members even once a day after fishing in the Meghna during the lean season was prohibited by the government .
According to the High Court, such a blanket ban does not have the sanction of the law. It has asked the government to show cause within three weeks why this ban should not be declared illegal. It is heart-rending to see the hunger and misery in which they are passing their days.
After having lost their only source of income, they are desperate to catch fish in spite of the ‘threats of the coast guards and local administration’. This may trigger off violence in the area,many fear. These ultra-poor people have not been provided with alternative sources of income during the period of the ban and are facing starvation, said local people.
In the last week of April, some hundreds of fishermen gathered at Jelekandi Para in Shaitnol village at Chhengarchar upazila in Chandpur to protest against the ‘brutality of the coast guards’, who regularly and mercilessly beat them up.
Local people said they are not allowed to catch fish in the stretch of river from Char Bhairabi to Shaitnol (distance between the two places is about 60 kilometres) and from Shariatpur to river Padma (distance about 40 kilometres).
In this area about three lakh ultra-poor fishermen, most of whom are landless, subsist by catching fish. The government slapped the ban as there are allegations that the fishermen catch ‘Jatka’ (fingerlings) in the river during the lean period, but made no alternative arrangement to provide employment to the starving community.
“This river is our blood and soul. Our forefathers have lived on it for ages. But now we are not allowed to fish. The government has made us thieves and criminals by making fishing illegal,” said Mohabir Burmen of Shaitnol village at Chhengarchar.
Like Mohabir, Nirmal Burmen, Haricharan, Fulchan Burmen, Ketuchandra Burmen, Shuvro Burmen feel humiliated, and all of them complain of brutal torture by the coast guards in the area. Narrating his sorry tale in the coast guards’ custody, Shuvro Burmen said that he was caught recently at night while catching fish. “The guards seized my nets, made holes in the hull of my fishing boat and took me to their camp, where they beat me up severely.” Next morning 20 women and two men went to the camp and started wailing to free him from their grip.
“Finally the guards let him go,” said Mohabir. The coast guards also caught Rupchan Burmen and his teenage son Jhotan Burmen in mid-river and tortured them allegedly . In the nearby Ekhlaspur area, where there is a camp of coast guards, two fishermen died recently without getting any treatment after brutal torture by the guards, complained local people.
Though there is a directive of the High Court to the government dated April 3 favouring the fishing communities, the local administration is continuously ignoring the ruling.
The High Court ruled that the fishermen are allowed to catch fish in the river Meghna but they will be punished as per the laws of the land if they are caught catching fingerlings.
The Court also directed the government not to bar fishermen from fishing in general and stop summarily meting out corporeal and other sorts of punishment, such as damaging their boats and burning their fishing nets.
Pleading for the petitioners, well-known lawyer Dr Kamal Hossain told the court that the laws of the land regarding fishing, including the Protection and Conservation of Fish Act, 1950, did not empower the government or any authority to impose such a blanket prohibition.
The present laws empower the government to impose a ban on catching a particular species of fish of specified size during a specified time. But the local administration imposed the ban on catching fish in general without any sanction of the law, he argued.
Dr Kamal told the court that the copy of the official order, if any, was not available to the petitioners, but they are being harassed by the local administration. Their boats have been damaged and fishing nets have been burned even in the presence of State Minister for Education Ehsanul Haque Milan, he argued. Local people said that a section of local influential people are enforcing the ban on fishing to do a brisk business in hilsha fish in the next season.
Fishermen in the locality told the SAN-Feature Service that they recently went to the deputy commissioner of Chandpur and upazila nirbahi officer at Chhengarchar with the High Court’s directive to convince them of the illegality of the ban so that they can fearlessly go to the river and catch fish for survival.But the officials were not convinced and directed the fishermen not to go to the river and threatened dire consequences in case of violation of the ‘administrative order’.
The government has recently distributed some ration to a few starving families in this area. At Jelekandipara in Shaitnol village there are 165 families who have been directly affected by the government’s decision, but the local administration has provided a small amount of support to only 62 families.
“I have received about eight kilograms of rice two times in the last five months from the government,” said Kanon Debi. “I cannot continue the education of my two daughters. Now they do not go to the school as I could not give them Tk 180 for sitting in the last examination in the school,” said Lakshmi Rani.
Considering the gravity of the situation ActionAid
Mahbuba Akhter, a social activist at Kalipur village in Chhengarchar Upazila, said that the local administration’s attitude towards the poor fishermen is totally negative.
“We are trying to mobilise the fishermen to resist the torture and brutality and to ensure their rights to their very own river,” she said.
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