Mrinal Sarker Milu, Tarash
Indiscriminate collection of hundreds of tonnes of small-snails (Helicidae) from low-lying land and water bodies of Chalan Beel areas of Tarash upazila of Sirajganj is threatening the biodiversity and environment of the beel alarmingly.
Hundreds of local farmers and fishermen are engaged in collecting huge amounts of snails daily and selling those to the wholesale snail dealers.
Environmentalists, however, expressed their worry and said these snails work as natural filters for the open-water body and indiscriminate collection of these snails is threatening the biodiversity and environment of the region.
Already an adverse environmental impact is being noticed on the soil and water of the areas due to the collection of so huge snails.
Fishermen Lokman, Siddique, Rafique, Robi of Kamarshan village, Yanus Ali of Kushabari village under Tarash upazila informed hundreds of fishermen like them under the villages of Tarash upazila used to maintain their livelihood by catching and selling fish in the beel water.
However, this year there is no sufficient water in the beel and no sufficient fish is seen in the water body even during the full monsoon. As a result, they are being forced to collect snails and sell those to survive.
They further informed, a fisherman can collect 15 to 20 sackful of snails in a day. To the wholesale snail traders, they sell a sackful of snails at Tk. 200 to 250. The local wholesale traders purchase those snails and after meeting the local demand, they sell those snails to various places in the country including in Kushtia, Rangpur, Noakhali, Barishal, Bagerhat and Jashore.
Local snail trader Abdul Kader informed, he purchased some 500 to 1,000 sackful of snails from Kamarshan and Kundail ghats daily. Such snails are also sold to the traders in various places including at No-8 bridge ghat beside Hatikumrul-Bonpara highway, at Nadosaidpur and other places of the Chalanbeel.
The traders purchased those snails for three to four months during the rainy season. He and other trades sell those snails to various places of the country. He also said he has no idea whether the trading on snails is legal or illegal.
Bidduth Kumar Das, Lecturer in Zoology of Tarash Degree College informed that the snails clean the water naturally. Those small aquatic snails filter the water of open water bodies and are used as food for sweet water fishes. These snails also contribute greatly to increase fertility of the agricultural land.
Mejbaul Karim, Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Tarash informed that in addition to fishes, snails are produced and regenerated naturally in Chalan Beel areas.
He added effective measures will be taken soon to stop collection and ravages of the snails from the Chalanbeel areas.
