The traditional dried fish (shutki) hubs of Pabna district are facing a severe crisis, with production plummeting and livelihoods vanishing due to a dramatic shortage of native fish. A combination of obstructed rivers and waterways and rampant illegal fishing has pushed dozens of local species to the brink, stripping the region of its famed industry.
Local fishermen and processors report that the natural flow of rivers, canals, and wetlands is increasingly blocked, critically slowing water circulation. This environmental damage is compounded by the widespread use of destructive, fine-mesh nets, notably the “China duari”, which indiscriminately catch brood fish and fry, preventing population recovery.
The result is a raw material shortage so acute that most drying yards now lie idle during what should be the peak production season. Where processing continues, output is a fraction of former levels.
“Earlier, we could dry large quantities daily. This year, many producers have gone weeks without a single catch,” said Rafiqul Islam, a shutki trader from Mohishluti. “Unplanned excavation, illegal nets, and unregulated fishing are rapidly making the Chalan Beel area fishless.”
Once, Pabna’s shutki was exported to some 20 countries. That trade has now sharply declined. Locals list over 30 native varieties, including magur, shing, pabda, and koi, as now endangered or rarely found outside of aquaculture. Market visits confirm most are available only as farmed fish, if at all.
The crisis has devastated community incomes. Rahima Begum, a shutki worker from Chatmohar, said her daily earnings have disappeared. “Before, I earned Tk400-500 daily and managed my household. Now there is hardly any work; most days, no income,” she said.
Official figures confirm the collapse. Pabna District Fisheries Officer Dipak Kumar Pal reported a drastic reduction in active drying yards, from 50-70 in previous years to just 15-20 now. The annual production target has been revised down from 200 tonnes to approximately 150 tonnes.
“Indiscriminate fishing with illegal nets, lower rainfall, and reduced water levels have led to far fewer fish in the wetlands this year,” Pal explained. He noted department efforts to raise awareness and enforce bans on illegal nets, but emphasised that for the industry to recover, wetland ecosystems must be preserved.
With drying yards closed from Sujanagar to Faridpur, the once-bustling shutki villages of Pabna have been left in an unsettling quiet, their economic heartbeat fading alongside the district’s native fish.
