Since the summer has started in Bangladesh, the entire country is experiencing an unusual low rainfall and scorching heat. It certainly is connected to global warming and Bangladesh is one of the top countries that are suffering most from it.
It has made the situation worse for the shrimp industry in Bangladesh. Due to intense heat and prolonged drought, the shrimp farms in Satkhira faced a huge loss. At least 40% of the shrimps in the district have died due to this heat wave within the last one and half months. The shrimp farmers are facing severe losses in the beginning of this season.
Rajyaswar Das, a shrimp farmer of Sarappur village of Asashuni upazila of Satkhira district, said that he has cultivated shrimp in more than 500 hectares area this season. But at least BDT 2.5 – 3 million worth of shrimp died due to this dire situation just around time when he was about to sell. The situation is the same for most of the shrimp farmers in the surrounding area. Moreover, many shrimp farmers have suffered from lack of water due to the dredging of the Mirichchap river in the area which resulted in low water level in the river for getting enough supply in their ponds.
Abdul Bari, a shrimp farmer and trader of Gonakarkathi village of the same upazila, said that in the current season, he is cultivating bagda (Black Tiger) shrimp in an area of 35 hectares. In the meantime, his shrimp ponds have been affected by this situation several times. He said, 70-80% of the shrimp died due to the abnormal temperature when each shrimp in the pond was about 2-3 inches in size. It has caused a loss of at least bdt 1.4-1.5 million. Not only Rajyaswar Das and Abdul Bari, most of the shrimp farmers in the district have the same picture. During the production season, shrimps die and cost them a lot.
General Secretary of Satkhira District Shrimp Growers Association Abul Kalam Babla said that in the current season, shrimp are being cultivated at least 60,000 ponds in six upazilas of Satkhira. But around 40% of the shrimp in the ponds died in the intense heat wave. The amount of loss is about BDT 2000 million. In addition to this, due to the negligence of the Water Development Board in dredging the river, the shrimp farmers are not able to raise water level properly in many areas. As a result, shrimps are dying in many ponds as lack of water creates more problems amid this situation.
Satkhira District Fisheries officer, Anisur Rahman said that in the current season of 2022-23, shrimp cultivation is being done on 68,000 hectares of land in Satkhira in about 60,000 ponds/enclosures. Among them, the production target of bagda shrimp is 26,000 tons and the production target of freshwater prawn is 10,000 tons. He said about the death of shrimps that are dying not only due to heat stroke, but also due to lack of water in most of the enclosures and fish are dying more due to unplanned enclosures.
He also mentioned, these farmers do not get quality shrimp PL, which results in low growth or diseased shrimp in the production. In this regard, he advised the shrimp farmers to increase the amount of water in the enclosure as well as to cultivate shrimp in a healthy environment in a planned manner.
