By Sumi Khan

Dhaka, Sep 4 (IANS): 617 metric tons of fish worth Tk 12 crore died in ponds and water bodies of Rajshahi due to lack of oxygen because of scorching heat, said District Fisheries official.

Rajshahi District Fisheries Officer Alak Kumar told IANS, "Around 617 metric tons of fish died in the district after the weather suddenly turned bad on Tuesday. The sky was covered with thick clouds and there was no wind which caused lack of oxygen in the ponds and canals that caused death of the fish."

The District Fisheries Officer said that the fish traders will have to bear a loss of Tk 11.73 crore but the traders said that the loss will be much more than this.

The farmers said Ruhi Katla fish, which weighs around three to seven kg, was sold for only Tk 50-90. A lot of traders didn't even bring dead fish to the market while some of them buried them in the ground.

Manirul Islam, a fish trader from Naohata area of Paba Upazila, said, "Fish weighing four to five ounce died on Tuesday night due to lack of oxygen as the sky was cloudy for the whole day. On Wednesday, we sold some less rotten fish to the people at only Tk 50 per kg, however, some better fish were sold at Tk 90 per kg but still we suffered a heavy loss."

Another fish trader from Kachari Kowalpara, a village in Bagmara Upazila, Abdul Majid said, "I suffered a loss of Tk 6 lakh as fish in my pond spread in six bigha died due to lack of oxygen. I buried all of them in the ground."

Huzur Ali, a fish trader from Maria village, said that all the fish in his two ponds spread in 20 bigha died. "Katla weighing seven kg and Rui weighing 2.5 kg were taken to the market but were not sold due to which I suffered a loss of Tk 20 lakh," he said.

Tofzuddin Ahmed, Deputy Director of the Fisheries Department of Rajshahi Division, said, "Reports of deaths of fish were received from all the districts of Rajshahi division. However, exact statistics are still not available."

A lot of ponds had big fish for sale but due to corona traders were not selling them. Fish in ponds with much higher concentration and oxygen making machines didn't died.