Hilsa going out of our lives?

But there is hope. While the attrition within our shore-lines, estuaries and rivers is evidently on, the trend is still reversible because it is largely man-made.

The problem of unavailability of the species within our borders is two-fold: first, indiscriminate fishing of adult and juvenile hilsa has caused a drastic depletion of the stock in inland waters. Secondly, high levels of pollution in Bangladesh waters in tandem with the choking of navi-gation routes by damming and shoaling have triggered a shifting of their habitats towards Myanmar and Indian waters.

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To the extent they are shying away from our inland waters and venturing out to the sea in search of new habitats, we can think of two options: one, we do what lies in our power to, insofar as reducing the incidence of pollution goes; and two, we bring to bear regional and international cooperation on the issue of rolling back the migratory shift into the historical pattern.

Something must be done to minimise the effect of 2750 tonnes of pesticides being used in our croplands annu-ally, which drain out to the waters adversely impacting on the aquatic life. The gurgling out of untreated industrial and other effluents into the estuaries and the rivers will have to be stymied.

The hilsa catching aberrations need to be radically corrected by recourse to vigorous policing, providing the laws with teeth and enforcing them in a stringent and fail-safe manner. The indiscriminate fishing at the estu-aries and rivers will have be stopped by a strict applica-tion of two criteria: first, hauling up of fish fry -- jatka -- must be deterred; and secondly, there should be some kind of a moratorium on netting adult hilsa navigating from the Bay into the rivers to breed.

It is highly imperative that planners put their heads to-gether; consult regional experts, if necessary; and draw up a comprehensive strategy in a serious bid to rejuve-nate the diminishing hilsa population in our territory. The time is running out.