Ratan Biswas, a fisherman aged 30 of Kalia upazila in Narail has caught a large-sized, stingray fish (Myliobatoidei) weighing 5 maunds from the estuary of Navaganga and Madhumati rivers. On Saturday (July 8) morning, the fish was caught in the fisherman’s net which was near Baradia Bazar of the upazila. By the law of Bangladesh “wildlife protection act”, catching and selling of stingray fish is prohibited.
According to local sources, Ratan Biswas set his net in the river as usual for fishing. On Saturday morning while pulling the net, he felt there’s something very heavy and due to excess weight, 10-12 fishermen came to his aid and pulled the net up and saw there’s a big stingray fish (locally known as Shaplapata fish) weighing approximately 200 killogram.
Once they brought it to the Uttarpara fish market, hundreds of people gathered to see the huge Shaplapata fish or Stingray with a length and width of about 7 feet. Later a local fish trader bought this prohibited fish at the price 80 thousand taka or around US $750, then it was cut in pieces and sold at the rate of 600 taka per kg or US $5.6 among the retail buyers.
Ratan Biswas said that large fishes, including riverine pangasius, helicopter catfish (Wallago attu) are usually caught from this river by his net. He uses a net that is locally called ‘Pierjal” which has 5-6 inches of diameter and is set horizontally in the bottom of the river. But a fish weighing 200 kilograms has never been caught in this net. I have never seen such a big fish before, he added.
Kalia Upazila Fisheries Officer Abu Raihan said, I heard that a fish weighing about 200 kilograms was caught in the fisherman’s net. This fish (Stingray) is found in different areas of Bay of Bengal estuary and Sundarbans, it can weigh up to 800 kg depending on the species. However, according to the Wildlife Conservation and Safety Act, 2012, stingray fishing is prohibited in our country. We discourage fishermen from doing this.
In Bangladesh, catching or trading conserved species of shark and stingray is a punishable offense under the law. The offenders face a maximum of one year in jail or Tk 50,000 (US $500) fines or both.
As a matter of fact, law is there but the implementation appears to be some tasks of other planets and it’s mostly because of the ignorance for the necessity of conservation and non-cooperative attitude with the authority. Govt and NGOs are required to run more campaigns to raise awareness of wildlife conservation in Bangladesh.
