Renu pona (fish fries) are now being collected from the river Jamuna in an unplanned and arbitrary manner. As a result, on an average, millions of eggs and fries of native fish are being destroyed every day.
Fries of various native fish species of native are being collected extensively from various areas adjacent to Jamuna River including Natun Varenga, Kaitola, Raksa and Kazirhat on the banks of river Jamuna in Bera upazila of Pabna. Fish egg and fry collection festival is going on unabated near Neolaipara cemetery in New Varenga Union.
Despite the official ban on the collection of fish eggs and fries from rivers, egg and fry collectors continue to procure them freely ignoring the govt imposed restrictions. As there seems to be no effective measure to stop the illegal procurement of native species of fish eggs fry.
Between the Bengali months of Boishakh and Ashar, different species of fish usually lay eggs in the rivers. So, the illegal egg and fry collectors start collecting eggs and fries from the rivers at this time. They collect these fries and eggs with different types of local nets which are finer than even mosquito nets.
Although such nets are laid in the river for the purpose of collecting fish fries and eggs of cultivable Rui, Katla and Mrigel fish in the pond, at least five times more fries and eggs of other species of fish are caught in the net. After the collectors collect the fries and eggs of the desired fish, the rest are discarded on the shore or elsewhere carelessly.
Regeneration processes of hundreds of species of native fish that grow in nature are being hindered by illegal and arbitrary collection of two or three species of eggs and fry. Hundreds of naturally occurring native species of fish will be lost if these illegal collectors cannot be resisted strictly.
