Fish Fortnight 2005

National Fish fortnight was observed country wide from August 7-21, 2005. Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia formally inaugurated the celebration  at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka on August 7. Minister of Fisheries and Livestock (MOFL), Abdullah Al Noman presided over the ceremony at which Minister for Finance and Planning M. Saifur Rahman was present as the special guest. Among many others the Secretary of MOFL, Md. Abdul Karim, and the Director General of the Department of Fisheries Md. Nasir Uddin Ahmed attended the ceremony.   

To improve awareness of the people in relation to the importance of fish in the national economy and to increase national production, the slogan of the Fish Fortnight was “Haor, Baor and flood plain are the golden source of fish production”. An elaborate program of activities was launched at national, district and Upazila level in this connection. The Greater Noakhali Aquaculture Extension Project (GNAEP) actively participated in all events to make the program a success.

GNAEP set up a stall in the central Fish Fair organized by DoF during the period of August 9-17 in Dhaka, displaying all the program components initiated for the socio-economic development of the rural poor living in the greater Noakhali region. It also distributed fish and prawn promotional materials to a large number of visitors already engaged or interested in engaging in this sector. The stall, with its model of GNAEP’s integrated prawn system, and a working hatchery attracted a lot of attention, from old and young alike. The Minister of Fisheries and Livestock, accompanied by the Secretary MOFL and the Director-General of DOF spent over five minutes at the stall during their initial circuit of the exhibition and the Secretary returned later for a detailed explanation.

At the district and Upazila level, GNAEP supported a series of programs carried out by the local offices of Department of Fisheries. Important events included organizing mass rallies at district level, field days and result demonstrations, workshops and seminars, farmers training, documentary film shows leaflets and posters distribution and publicity.

Human Resources Development

Vietnam Visit

Meanwhile, GNAEP has arranged two other training events for Project and DOF staff. After many false starts, 14 DOF staff from GNAEP, the Patuakhali – Barguna Aquaculture Extension Project and from the DOF/MOFL headquarters visited Vietnam between September 18-25 for a study tour of aquaculture systems and extension practices in the Mekong delta. The Faculty of Fisheries at Can Tho University arranged the visit. A second course was the International PRA Workshop, organized by the Praxis Institute at Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, India. This was held between September 18-29. GNAEP nominated three of its younger Aquaculture Officers for the course: Mahbubul Islam from Companiganj, Mizanur Rahman from Ramgoti and Nasir Uddin from Noakhali Sardar.

Almost inevitably in such carefully planned events, both visits ran into organizational problems! The flight of the DOF team traveling to Vietnam was delayed at Dhaka, leading to the loss of their connecting flight in Bangkok. They were only able to fly to Ho Chi Minh City the following morning, but the Can Tho University organizers deserve great credit for their adjustment of the programme so that no visits were lost entirely. The problems for the Hyderabad team occurred on the way back, when they were stranded at Kolkata thanks to a strike of Bangladesh Biman the previous day! Full reports on both these study programmes will be given in our next edition.