South Pacific Studies Vol.29, No.1, 2008

Notes

Brush and Vegetation Park Fishery in the River Titas,
Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh*M.D. SAGIR AHMED1* and HAFEZA AKTHER2

1: Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhakad1000, Bangladesh
2: Department of Geography and Environment, Eden Girl’s College, Dhaka 1000,
Bangladesh

Abstract
A study was conducted in the River Titas from November 2002 to June 2003 on a fish aggregation
device (FAD), locally known as katha (brushpiles), an important means of fishing in this river. A total of 70
kathas were surveyed and catch monitoring data was collected weekly. The size of katha ranged from 0.12
to 1.17 ha with an average size of 0.35 ha. The average total production from katha was estimated as 750
kg ha-1year-1. In combined catch, more than 47% fish were Siluriformes (catfish) including Wallogonia attu,
Mystus cavasius, M. gulio and M. vittatus, followed by Perciformes 19.86% (Chanda nama, C. baculis andAnabas testudineus) and Cypriniformes 3.21% (Puntius sophore, P. sarana, Labeo rohita and L. gonia).
Small and large prawn contributed more than 16% of total production.
Key words: Katha, Park fishery, production, species composition, Titas river,

Introduction
Bangladesh is a riverine country and is drained by three major river systems, thePadma (Ganges), Meghna and Jamuna (Brahmaputra). The Titas is a comparatively
small trans-boundary floodplain river situated in Brahmanbaria district. It is believed
to be an important feeding and breeding ground of riverine species. During the arrivalof the monsoon, this river floods and inundates the adjacent area to form a large
floodplain. In the dry season upper reaches of the river become dry except for somepools. During that period the fish aggregation device (FAD), locally known as katha,
is the important means of fishing in this river. BERNASCEK et al. (1992) have studied
extensively the use of katha in the Northeast region of Bangladesh. A preliminary
report on katha and kua fisheries in Bangladesh has been made by WAHAB and KIBRIA(1994). AHMED and HAMBERY (1999) describe brush shelter fishery, a newly introduced
fishing method in the Kaptai lake reservoir fisheries in Bangladesh. WorldFish Center
formerly ICLARM, in Bangladesh has been undertaking research on the gears used
and the catches taken from the River Titas since 1998 under its Community Based*E-mail: ms2ahmed@yahoo.com
Received: 10 April 2006
Accepted: 29 September 29 2008

Fax: 880-2-8615583

64South Pacific Studies Vol.29, No.1, 2008

Fisheries Management (CBFM) program. Unestimated numbers of kathas are distributed
throughout the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna and other rivers of Bangladesh. Despite
their wide use, high yields, and the social and environmental conditions surrounding
them and their importance as biological production systems they have been little
studied.
This paper presents the results of a katha fisheries survey carried out during theperiod from November 2002 to June 2003. The aim was to identify the status and to
estimate the species composition and production of the katha fishery in the River Titas.

Materials and Methods
The River Titas, is a trans-boundary river of south eastern Bangladesh (Fig. 1).
It originates in the state of Tripura in India and flowing near Agartala (India), it enters
Bangladesh through Akhaura Upazila in the Brahmanbaria District of Bangladesh, thenmerges with the Meghna River to the south of near Ashuganj. The length of the riveris about 98 km and 50-80 m wide in the dry season. During the dry season, the upper
reaches of the river become dry, except for some pools. After the onset of the monsoon,(July-November) this area floods and forms the floodplain. The present study was
conducted from November 2002 to June 2003 at Goshaipur to Chitri about 12 km at
lower reaches of the river.
A census of all katha fixed in the study area was undertaken at the beginningof the study using a katha survey form developed by DOF (Directorate of Fisheries),

Fig. 1. Map of Brahmanbaria district showing the River Titas and study area.

AHMED and AKTHER : Brush Park Fishery in the River Titas

65

WorldFish, CARITAS and BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) (SARKER
et al. 1999). After that, 21 kathas of various sizes within the study area were selected
for catch composition and production estimation. A catch assessment monitoringquestionnaire developed for CBFM by the WorldFish Center (in Bangladesh) was usedin the present study (Kader et al. 1999). In the catch, fish and prawn species wereidentified using the taxonomic keys provided by SHAFI and QUDDUS (1982), RAHMAN(1989) and KIBRIA (1983). Catch monitoring data were collected on a weekly basis
from the fishermen during harvesting. Production was estimated by combining the total
harvests in the season of each katha. Data was analyzed using the Microsoft Access and
SPSS.

Results and Discussions
A total of 70 different sizes of kathas were surveyed and categorized into 4 types
according to their sizes. The maximum and minimum sizes of katha were recorded as
1.17 and 0.12 ha respectively with an average size of 0.35 ha. Fifty percent of kathas
were within the size range of 0.41-0.60 ha, 31% katha less than 0.20 ha sizes, 15%
katha 0.21-0.40 ha and the remaining 4% was above 0.61 ha sizes. Kathas were also
categorized on the basis of the ownership of kathas (Table 1) and it was observed that
more than 44% of kathas belonged to small and 24% to medium farmers.
Most of the kathas were prepared with cheap and easily available materials. Katha
materials were mainly of two types; materials for shed and materials for shelter ofTable 1. Characteristics of Kathas by landownership category of main owners

Farmer typeNo. of Katha% of Katha

Average sizeof Katha (ha)Multi ownership(%)

Land less(< 0.2 ha land)

21

30

0.24

0

Small farmer(0.2-1.01 ha)

31

44.3

0.34

26

Medium Farmer(1.01-3.04 ha)

17

24.3

0.55

12

Large Farmer(>3.04 ha)

1

1.4

0.36

0

Total

70

100

-

-

fishes (Fig.2A, 2B). Floating aquatic vegetations are used for shed or shelter of fishes
in the kathas. Among them, Enhydra fluctuans (45%), Ipomoea aquitica (37%) andEichhornia crassipes (10%) are mostly used. Long bamboos and nylon rope were used
to encircle and fix those vegetations. For shelter of bottom dweller fishes and prawns
branches and roots of different trees were put under water before set up of katha (Fig.
2A). Barringtonia acuitangula (Hijal), Tamarindus indica (Tetul), Enterolobium saman

66South Pacific Studies Vol.29, No.1, 2008

(Eucheliptus), Mangifera indica (Am), Psidium guajava (Peyara) and other locallyavailable tree branches were used for this purpose. Before harvesting kathas wereencircled with a seine net up to bottom. Each katha was harvested two to three times ina season (Fig. 3).

Fig. 2. (A) construction of generalized brush park showing the different elements. (B). Brush park set up in
the River Titas, Brahmanbaria.

AHMED and AKTHER : Brush Park Fishery in the River Titas

67

Fig. 3. Number of harvests in different months out of 21 katha randomly selected for sampling during thestudy period.

Species composition
The species composition of combined catch is listed in Table 2. A totalof 35 species of fish was recorded from the catch including two exotic species(Hypophthelmichthyes molitrix and Puntius gonionotus). More than 47% of total
catch was comprised of Siluriformes (catfish) followed by Perciformes (19.86%)
and Cypriniformes (3.21%) and the rest 29.11% of the catch were small and medium
sized fish and prawn (Fig. 4). The fish composition in Kaptai brush parks consisted of
17% Indian major carps, 24% catfish, 13% clupeids, 9% feather backs, 6% tilapia and
31% others (AHMED and HAMBERY 1999). SAM CHIN HO (1999) listed a mixture of 34
cyprinid, catfish, feather backs and snakeheads species in brushparks of the Cambodian
Mekong River. As a single species, Wallagonia attu (12.48%), Mystus cavasius(10.87%), M. gulio (9.99%), Chanda nama (9.84%) and C. baculis (8.25%) dominatedthe catch (Table 2). Small prawns (Palaemon styliformes, Macrobrachium lamarrei,

Fig. 4. Percentage composition of different groups of fish and prawn in the harvested katha.

68South Pacific Studies Vol.29, No.1, 2008

Table 2. Species composition (% of total catch) from the kathas in the River Titas during November 2002 toJune 2003

Group

Order

Siluriformes

Cypriniformes
Fish

Local name
Boal
GolshaGulya
TengraAyre
Pabda
Batashe
Magur
Rui
Puti
Sar Puti
Gonia
Silver Carp
Chela
Nama Chanda
Gol Chanda

Perciformes

Bele
Gajar
Shoal

Osteoglossiformes Foli
Synbranchiformes

Crustaceans

Decapoda

Scientific name

Wallago attu
Mystus cavasius
Mystus gulio
Mystus vittatus
Mystus aor
Ompok pabda
Batasio batasio
Clarias batrachus
Labeo rohita
Puntius stigma
Puntius sarana
Labeo gonius
ypophthalmichthys
molitrix
Chela cachius
Chanda nama
Chanda baculis
Glossogobius
giurisChanna marulius
Channa striatus
Notopterus
notopterus

Contribution in
Production (%)
12.48
10.87
9.99
6.56
3.58
3.39
0.9
0.05
1.89
0.77
0.22
0.2
0.08
0.05
9.84
8.25
0.43
1.56
0.22
2.57

Baim

Mastacembelus
armatus

0.38

Golda Icha

Macrobrachiumrosenbergii

2.88

Dima Icha

Macrobrachinm
villosimanus

1.55

Chatka Icha

Macrobrachinm
malcolmsonii

1.18

Gura Icha

Palaemon
styliformes,(small prawns)

Macrobrachium
lamarrei,Macrobrachium
dyanus,16.75

Macrobrachiumlichodactylus
OthersTotal

small fish, snails
and crabs

3.36
100

AHMED and AKTHER : Brush Park Fishery in the River Titas

69

M. dyanus and M. lichodactylus) Contributed 16.75% of total catch which was anindicator of availability food for carnivorous fish like W. attu, Mystus, Notopterus andChanna species. In a study of the adjacent floodplain of the River Titas it was observedthat Cypriniformes comprised the major catch (26%) but as a single species W. attu also
dominated the total catch (AHMED 2002, 2008). In comparison with other floodplain
rivers (SARKER, et al. 1999 and KADER et al. 1999) the number of species was higher in
combined catch of this floodplain river.
Production
In the present study, production from katha was estimated 750 kg ha-1 year-1 based
upon the surveyed fishing season of 243 days. The average floodplain production has
been estimated to be 40-60 kg ha-1 year-1 by WELCOMME (1979 and 1985) from lightly
exploited floodplain-river systems. It indicated that the Titas river is highly exploited.
In Bangladesh yields of 50-300 kg ha-1 year-1 have been estimated. The highest yields
corresponded to permanent water bodies in the floodplains, while lowest yield were
found at floodplains fished for 4 months a year (DE GRAAF, et al. 1999, DE GRAAF
2001).
In general, catches from over-exploited floodplains, with a high fishing pressure,the large, slow-growing species the species that start to reproduce after 2-3 years
are replaced by quick-growing and fast reproducing species (W ELCOMME 1985,
H OGGAARTH et al. 1999). In the Titas, small prawns (other than M. rosenbergii)
comprised more than 16% of total catch gives an indication of over-exploitation of thisfloodplain rivers.
BERNASCEK et al. (1992) have suggested that a major possibility for increasing
fish production above the natural level is through the use of katha as a biologicalproduction system, rather than only its current use as simply a fish aggregation device.
Katha can increase biological production in three ways by i) creating more secure anddiverse spawning habitats for some species and thus increasing reproductive success;ii) creating more secure nursery habitats by lowering predation rates and increasing
survival of fry and fingerlings; and, iii) creating large food resources due to growth ofperiphyton, a high quality natural food and thus increasing fish growth and condition.
Further study on biology ecology and population dynamics of commercially exploited
species and livelihood assessment of fishermen are needed to undertake a sustainable
management policy for this river.

Acknowledgements
This research was carried out under SUFER (Support for University Fisheries
Education and Research) Research Award funded by D FID, UK. Technical support
from WorldFish Centre (formerly I CLARM ), Bangladesh is acknowledged. The
authors are grateful to Dr. Graham Pilling, of Centre for Environment, Fisheries and70South Pacific Studies Vol.29, No.1, 2008

Aquatic Sciences (CEFAS), UK and Dr. Amrit Bart of Asian Institute of Technology(AIT), Bangkok for their advice and critical comments during the preparation of thismanuscript.

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