Local fishermen in Rajshahi on Sunday formed a human chain and held a rally demanding a ban on the use of the controversial ‘China Duari’ fishing nets, which they said were destroying native fish species and aquatic biodiversity in the Barind region.
Non-government organisations Bangladesh Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Sabuj Sanghati organised the programme at Saheb Bazar Zero Point.
After the rally, participants submitted a memorandum to the adviser to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock through the deputy commissioner, pressing a five-point demand, including a nationwide ban on the import, production and sale of the fine-meshed nets.
Referring to findings from a field study, BARCIK regional coordinator and researcher Md Shahidul Islam said that almost all rivers and canals in the Barind area were now being fished with China Duari nets.
‘Because of the extremely small mesh, even fry and juvenile fish are caught, pushing native species and aquatic biodiversity toward extinction,’ he said. He added that under the Fish Conservation Act, nets with mesh sizes smaller than 4.5 centimetres were prohibited, but enforcement remained weak.
‘As a result, not only fish but also aquatic plants, birds, frogs, turtles and the entire wetland ecosystem are under threat,’ he warned.
Md Jahangir Alam, president of the Gokul-Mathura Fishermen Cooperative Society, said that native fish in Bilkumari Beel had almost disappeared.
 ‘Even during the fishing season, we hardly catch anything because of these China nets,’ he said.
Another fisherman, Afaz Uddin Kabiraj, recalled how once-abundant native fish species had vanished from the wetlands.
Sabuj Sanghati convener Mahbub Siddiqui said that despite existing laws, enforcement at the field level was nearly absent.
‘The government must immediately ban the import, manufacture and sale of these nets and shut down the factories producing them,’ he said.
Among others, Nowhata Fishermen Cooperative Society general secretary Abu Sama, local fisherman Raghunath Halder, Samajik Kollyan Sangstha executive director Samrat Raihan, Indigenous Youth Council leader Upen Robidas, July 36 Forum convener Mahmud Jamal Quaderi and Barendra Youth Forum joint general secretary Atikur Rahman also spoke.
