Popular Chapila fish returns to palate

Kolkata: The State Fisheries Development Corporation (SFDC) is bringing back the riverine fish ‘Chapila’ in the platter of fish-loving Bengalis, which has been virtually in the verge of extinction. 

The fish that has its origin in the rivers of Bangladesh has already been declared endangered in Bangladesh and India. 

The Chapila is similar to the fish ‘Khoyra’ in Bengal, which is also gradually making into the endangered list of fish.

“A few months back, we acquired two water bodies from the West Bengal Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) at New Town for cultivation of fish,” joint director of fisheries B.K. Mondal said.

“Recently, we stumbled upon a huge cache of these fish during netting in the last few days. Following the haul, we have now introduced them at our big water body in Nalban and at Goltala pond, seven kilometres away from Chingrighata,” he said.

“Now we are getting 150 kg on an average and the sales have already crossed a few lakhs,” he said.

An SFDC official said that the department’s optimism to bring back this variety of fish in the daily menu of Bengalis rests upon the fact that these fish are auto breeding by nature, like the popular variety ‘Telapiya’. “We will gradually spread these fishes in all the districts. Our next plan is to introduce it at Henry’s Island — a popular tourist destination near Bakkhali and at Digha in East Midnapore where we have our own water body,” the official said.

When asked how these fish reached these water bodies in New Town, an expert at the SFDC said that once upon a time Bidyadhari river had links with the Bangladesh river. 

These water bodies in New Town had links with Bidyadhari river too. “These fishes had existed there but nobody was aware,” the expert said.