Invasive fish species find new patrons in content creators

Two brothers, Nobel and Pavel, appear on their social media handles and YouTube channel as animal lovers and caregivers to many exotic species. 

The brothers curate a 'mini zoo', housing imported ducks, rabbits, dogs, cats and fish, at Naria upazila of Shariatpur district. They often entertain their followers with videos of how they take care of the animals and maintain their zoo. 

On 7 June this year, Nobel and Pavel uploaded a vlog with a Bangla title saying they have brought a crocodile to their mini zoo. The title also lists 'Alligator Gar, Albino Arowana, Shovelnose Catfish, and Bass Fish' in English. All are carnivorous and aggressive towards small fish. 

In the vlog, Pavel is seen purchasing the alien fish from a Katabon-based pet shop in Dhaka. The shop attendant, while fishing out the exotic creatures from large aquariums, remarks how beautiful the fish would be once they reach maturity. 

The video also shows Pavel carrying the purchased fish in a wrapped polystyrene foam box and travelling to Shariatpur from Dhaka. Another vlog, a follow-up of the previous video, one month later shows Nobel feeding the growing alligator gars that are now housed in a concrete water tank.

Nobel did not respond to repeated phone calls.      

According to Department of Fisheries officials, importing alien fish must acquire approval from the department. And if the species seem harmful to local fish, an importer will not get the green signal. The department has already banned the import, distribution and culture of sucker fish, red piranha and African magur, which were once imported to Bangladesh for aquariums.  

The department's Additional Director General Anisur Rahman Talukder said the fish varieties mentioned in the vlog are harmful. 

Then how did the fish land at Katabon? 

Recently, we visited the Katabon pet market and found a few shops including 'Water Zoo' — owned by one certain Shishir Mitra —- selling Alligator Gar, Oscar, Albino Arowana and Shovelnose Catfish. Some other shop attendants suggested that Water Zoo is the prominent shop in the market that sells imported items.

The shop attendant Miran, presuming the TBS correspondent to be a potential buyer, briefed about the prices of the exhibits. They were really expensive: a snow alligator gar cost Tk3 lakh.

We asked for the types of alligator gar that Nobel and Pavel have been rearing at their mini zoo. Miran said the price of the particular item would cost Tk5,000 per pair, but they were not available at the moment. 

"The alligator gars you are searching for will be available after the next shipment by air. We import the fish from either Singapore or Thailand," Miran said. We asked him when the fish would arrive. He replied, "You will find updates on our Facebook page."  

Alien fish traders mostly build marketing networks through their social media handles and they receive enormous response. There are some concerned followers too who remind the page operators about the negative impacts of selling the carnivorous alien fish in Bangladesh. Aquaculture experts often blame the alien species for pushing the local fish to extinction. The page operators rarely entertain the worried followers.        

However, the fisheries department should be concerned about the matter since there are Fisheries Quarantine Officers deployed at the ports to check malicious fish species. But the authorities seem unaware of such harmful imports. 

"For sure, the 'harmful' fish were imported without permission. Maybe the importers bypassed due procedure. I am not aware of the imports," said Anisur Rahman Talukder. 

Bangladesh Fish Quarantine Act 2018 prohibits the illegal import of fish species and has the provision for a maximum of seven years of rigorous imprisonment or a fine of maximum Tk5 lakh or both. Advertising sales of such fish is also a crime with similar punishment. Fisheries department officials, though, could not provide any data on how many people were punished for illegal fish imports so far.  

What are the consequences of such negligence? 

It has been said that 15 years back, the harmful 'sucker fish' were first caught at Dhanmondi Lake, Dhaka. At that time, it was presumed that some unaware aquarium owner might have released the 'mysterious' fish into the lake. 

Within a decade, the fish became such a threat to conventional fisheries and aquaculture that different government agencies and fish conservationists issued red alerts. Several media outlets reported that sucker fish, which are omnivorous, are available in prominent rivers. They are now thriving even in the most polluted River Buriganga.     

"A few days ago, one of my research students reported the availability of sucker fish in the River Halda, which is the largest natural breeding space of major carp fish in the country. This is really alarming. The predator fish will soon endanger the existing fish species," said Professor AM Shahabuddin, a faculty of the aquaculture department at Sher-E-Bangla Agricultural University.  

In January this year, the government issued a gazette banning import, sale, distribution and farming of sucker fish. Earlier, the government had banned the alien fish species piranha in 2008 and African magur in 2014.

Over the past several decades, around 20 of 30 alien fish species for aquaculture were identified as having escaped to open waters, threatening the survivability of many native fish, according to fisheries experts. The alien fish were mainly imported for aquaculture.

Tilapia, black carp, mirror carp, common carp, grass carp, silver carp, African magur, Thai sharpunti, Vietnamese shol and koi, and guppy are among the alien fish that are now found breeding in natural water sources in the country.