When I met Mohammad Alamgir and his gillnetter fishing crew back in May, it was a very strange summer day in Chittagong Fish Harbor. The overall mood at the harbor was one of frustration and desperation, to say the least.
This is the peak fishing season for Bay of Bengal artisanal fishers, still, more than one hundred artisanal gillnet boats were moored on the north side of the Karnaphuli River, close to the seventy million dollar cable-stayed bridge. In the dizzying heat, the bridge looked like a far away sillouhte.
Under the midday sun in low tide, the wooden planked boats with S-bottom and beautiful high-sheer bow were sitting silently on the oily mud of the port-channel. The deck of many boats was shaded with low-hanging tarps made of colorful whole cloths stitched together; giving the crews working under— making minor repairs or doing other chores— a little relief in the extreme heat.
Crew of a few boats was working shirtless under the scorching sun; repairing gillnets spread out on the recently built embankment which they use as a wharf. While many left for home, these fisherfolks were still hoping that authorities will spare poors like them from the ongoing marine fishing ban.
Otherwise, Mr. Alamgir said, the only option to feed their families during the ban is to borrowing money from predatory lenders.
This is June 21, and the ban is here to stay.
#FishingFuture #CoastalCommunities #BayofBengal
