Revenue from Shutki Palli in Sundarbans rises

Revenue income from the sales of dried fish at Shutki Palli of Dublar Char of Sundarbans has seen a marked rise although catches of fish were 1,400 tonnes less this season than the last season.

Fishermen have produced about 5,100 tonnes of dried fish in the last five months and the Department of Forests has collected a revenue of Tk6.68 crore against their produce, which was Tk4.18 crore in the previous season.  

The revenue income increased as the Ministry of Forests issued a circular at the beginning of the season, with a hiked charge on dried fish, said Nasir Uddin, officer-in-charge (OC) of Dubla Fisherman Village Patrol Outpost of the Department of Forests.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Sundarbans East Forest Division Muhammad Belayet Hossain said, "We earned Tk6.68 crore in revenues this year from Dublar Char Shutki Palli which is more than any previous season."

Ashraful Alam went from Morrelganj of Bagerhat to produce dried fish in that char.

He said, this season, there was not much fish at the beginning but from the middle of the season, more fish was netted, which benefited many.

Md Harun or Rashid, the officer of the Dubla Fishermen Village Patrol outpost, said, "The fishermen are allowed to stay in the char for four months in each season. But this time due to a good catch, the deadline was extended by one month. Fishermen fish seven days out of every 15 days. They dry the fish for the remaining days.

"However, we continued a strict vigil so that the fishermen could not go inside the Sundarbans' sanctuary for fishing," he added.

According to the Department of Forests, the fishermen went to Dublar Char on 1 November 2022 for the production of dried fish this season. The season ended on 31 March this year. During this season, about 1,500 fishermen fish from the Bay of Bengal under 12 fishing fleets.

Jihadul Islam, owner of a fishing fleet, took a fleet to Dubla Char from Khulna's Paikgacha upazila this year. He said, "My fleet to Dubla Char consisted of two trawlers, 4 nets, and 17 employees. It cost me about Tk17 lakh this season."

"Each of the employees had a salary ranging from Tk8,000 to 20,000. Besides, the price of fuel oil and the cost of food has also increased. So I did not earn much money from the fish in the last five months, but I did not incur a loss at all."

Nasir Uddin, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Dubla Fisherman Village Patrol Outpost of the Department of Forests, said revenue is collected from fishermen at the rate of Tk10 per kg of fish which was previously on an average of Tk5.  

"After every 15 days, we collect the revenue by weighing the fish collected by every fleet," he said.

The fishermen collect fish from the Bay of Bengal staying at Dublar Char, a protected area of Sundarbans and the Department of Forest collects revenue from them. For five months of every season, fishermen from the Khulna, Bagerhat, and Satkhira districts catch fish in the Bay of Bengal. Then they produce dried fish at Dublar Char.