Our Correspondent

GOPALGANJ, Apr 26: The volume of dry fish processing has declined in the district devoid of modern production and storage system, proper government guidelines and running capital.

All the five upazilas of the district -- Kashiani, Muksedpur, Kotalipara, Tungipara and Gopalganj Sadar Upazila were famous for dry fish. There is reportedly no fishing project in the district now. A huge quantity of fish is produced here mainly because there are many marshlands in the region, about 100 kilometres south of the capital city.

Thousands of people live here on fishing. Since no modern system has so far been adopted here to dry fish, the local fishermen process them cleaning them in an unhealthy condition under the open sky.

Shortage of capital is yet another problem the fisherman are facing, which sometimes forces them to take loan from the local merchant or wholesalers and sell the processed fish at a lower price fixed by the merchants, sources concerned said.

Thousand of maunds of dry fish is processed every year. Owners of the big dry fish fields are used to storing them with DDT powder or other chemicals imported from India with the hope of selling those at a higher price.

Generally puti, chanda, taki, shol, gojar, baim, tengra etc, which have high demands in foreign countries, are processed in the district.

Shibeswar Rajbangshi, a dry fish business man of Gopalganj sadar told the FE quality of dry fish could be improved along with the increase in processing volume if a modern processing plant and a storage system was set up.

Thus the poor fishermen could change their lot, which, in turn, would help earn huge foreign currency by exporting quality dry fish.