<i> Piranha or Thai Chanda?</i>
Mymensingh farmers protest govt order for destruction
A farmer with a Thai Chanda and a Piranha fish with sharp teeth (right) Photo: STAR
Fish farmers and hatchery owners in Mymensingh have claimed that fishery authorities have 'branded' their Thai Chanda as Piranha and asked them to destroy those. Piranha eats other fishes and is harmful to the environment. Fish farmers at a recent press conference at a hatchery at Ragabpur in Sadar upazila claimed that Thai Chanda is being cultivated in Bangladesh for long. The authorities have "wrongly" identified it (Thai Chanda) as Piranha, they claimed. There are around Tk 1,000 Thai Chanda fishes and fries in some 100 hatcheries and several hundred farms in Mymensingh and Comilla districts, the farmers said at the press conference. They also informed that Thai Chanda belongs to Colossama species. It is known as Pacu, Pirapitinga and Pal Pacu in Thailand and is consumed widely in that country. Piranha is available in South America and Guyana and is also eaten by humans there. Mymensingh district fishery department made announcements over loud speakers recently, asking fish farmers to kill Thai Chanda fishes, taking those to be Piranha, they told the press conference. The authorities took the decision without proper investigation, they claimed. They also claimed that Fisheries Faculty of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) and Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) conducted a field survey in 2005, which did not identify Thai Chanda as Piranha or declare it harmful to the environment. Thai Chanda can be cultivated with other fishes including indigenous Ruhi, Katla, catfish and Telapia and no farmer reported that it eats other fishes, said Md. Muzammel Karim, owner of Muktagacha Fisheries in Muktagacha upazila. Md. Sham Miah, owner of United Fisheries in Comilla, said cultivation of Thai Chanda increased the country in last two years. Media reports describing Thai Chanda as Piranha has put us in a great crisis, they regretted. Over 50 hatchery owners from different upazilas of Mymensingh and Comilla were present at the press conference. On contact, District Fisheries Officer Syed Arif Azad said a team led by Director General of Fisheries Department Md. Mukammel Hossain is working to settle the issue. The team includes fish scientists from Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, Mymensingh and CARITAS. It will give a report within a week, he said. He said order was given to stop cultivation of Piranha. Asked about the worries of fish farmers, he said they should prove that they are cultivating Thai Chanda not Piranha. Prof. Dr. Muklesur Rahman, Head of Fisheries Biology and Genetics Department of BAU Fisheries Faculty who has been working on Piranha fish since 2002 told the Daily Star that its cultivation is harmful.
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