Mother fishes release eggs in Halda after a year

Mother fishes released eggs in the River Halda, the country’s one of the natural sweet water breeding ground of carps, on early Saturday after a gap of one season. 
Fishermen collected 1,680 Kilograms of eggs from different spots of the river which flows through Hathazari and Raozan upazilas in Chittagong.
About 28 kilograms of post-larval fish (locally known as renu) could be produced from the spawn, said Manzoorul Kibria, Chittagong University’s Zoology department professor and an expert on Halda. 
Local people said mother fishes started releasing eggs at about 1: 00am which continued till the morning. Several hundred fishermen riding 105 boats collected eggs from the river. 
Most of the eggs were collected at Napiter Ghona, Bari Ghona, Ramdas Munshir Hat areas. 
They said heavy rains in Chittagong on Friday caused strong current in the river, creating congenial atmosphere for mother fish to release spawn.
Every year in the monsoon, mother fish of indigenous species of carps including ruhi, katol, mrigel and kalibaush release eggs in the river which fishermen collect in a festive mood. But last year (2016) the brood fishes did not release eggs in the river. 
‘We were afraid as last year brood fishes did not release eggs in the river. Some experts thought that the valuable breeding ground had died. Fishermen along with 300 boats were gathered for collecting eggs last year but they got frustrated as they did not find eggs. It is good news for us that this year mother fishes released eggs again. It seems that the natural breeding ground is going to get back its environment,’ said Manzoorul. 
But frustration is not over as the amount of eggs is decreasing every year, added Mamzoorul. 
He said on Friday fishermen collected 28 KG of post larval fish, while 150 KG in 2015, 250 KG in 2014 which shows the decreasing of production. Several years ago fishermen were able to collect 1000 KG of post-larval fish from Halda. 
Pollution from industrial effluent, establishing a rubber dam at Bhujpur area on the upstream of the river, catching of mother fishes and lifting sands from the river’s downstream is destroying the natural environment of Halda, caused the decline of fish breeding, said Manzoorul Kibria.

- See more at: http://www.newagebd.net/article/14088/mother-fishes-release-eggs-in-halda-after-a-year#sthash.raecVmbT.dpuf