A study on fish drying in Chalan Beel areas was conducted between August 2006 and February 2007. Field survey was carried out in Atrai, Singra, Tarash, and Bhangura Upazilas adjacent to Chalan Beel to assess the fish drying status. Twenty six fish were used for drying including five major fish species for large scale drying and remaining species were mixed with major species, mostly of damaged physically. Majority (89.3%) dry fish farmers brought raw fishes from local fish markets or landing centers. Washing of raw fish was done by beel water and poor quality salts were used for salting (rate: 50-250 g / kg fish) in most cases. Majority drying were done by spreading raw fishes on bamboo rack without any protection measure from insects or dust. Finally, maximum dried products were carried to Sayadpur (Nilphamary) dry fish wholesale market by the dry fish farmers or other middlemen.

Abstract:To assess the proximate composition, five dried fish samples of Mystus vittatus, Channa punctatus, Chanda nama, Corica soborna and Trichuirus haumela were selected. The moisture content ranged from 14.06% to 24.58%, protein varied between 44.08% to 65.65% (moisture basis) and 53.45% to 76.39% (dry matter basis), lipid content of the selected dried fishes ranged from 1.91% to 17.76% (moisture basis) and 2.31% to 21.54% (dry matter basis). Ash content varied from 9.63% to 22.73% (moisture basis) and 11.21% to 28.15% (dry matter basis). The experiment was replicated three times and conducted from February, 2009 to August, 2009. Samples were collected from Sayedpur Upazaila, Nilphamari District, the north-west region of Bangladesh.Key Words: dried fish, moisture, crude protein, lipid and ash IntroductionFreshwater fishes play a vital role for animal proteins in the world. Approximately 16 percent of animal proteins consumed by the world's population are derived from fishes, and over one billion people depend on fish as their main source of animal proteins (FAO, 2000). Fishes are easily digestible nature of proteins and are important source of essential minerals. Besides, the dried fishes are also rich in other nutritional components (Nettleton, 1992;Graikoski, 1998;Basu and Gupta, 2004). Laureti (1998) established that dried fishes often are an alternative to fresh fishes in many places. According to DoF (2011) significant amount of dried fishes (approximately 622 mt) were exported and earned 25.06 core taka of foreign currency. But many cases it does not possible to get similar flavor, taste or texture from dried fishes. Saha (2003) reported that in Bangladesh most of the market samples become slightly odourless and some lose the shelf life where rancid and bitter tastes are developed. Nutritional composition also varied in large scale in different dried fish product. Now-a-days consumer wants to know and ensured the nutritional value of the products what they are eating. Although a good number of works on the biochemical composition of fishes in Bangladesh have been done by many researchers viz. Rubbi et al. (1987), Mollah et al. (1998Mollah et al. ( , 2000, Nurullah et al. (2002Nurullah et al. ( , 2003, Islam et al. (2003), Mazumder et al. (2008). But the dried fishes both freshwater and marine species were not focused. So the present investigation was carried out in order to assess the percentage of proximate composition of five fish species through laboratory analysis.

The study carried out with a view to determining proximate and mineral composition of fish powder of five freshwater fish samples (Hypophthalmicthys molitrix, Labeo rohita, Cirrnina mrigala and Puntius sophore and small prawns). The samples collected from five local fish markets of Rajshahi city corporation were subjected to washing, gutting drying and grinding in order to make powder and homogenized sample which were preserved into plastic container for chemical analyses. All the activities were conducted in the laboratory of department of Fisheries, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Major nutrient compositions of powder products such as protein, lipid, moisture, ash, carbohydrate, phosphorus, iron and calcium were estimated. Chemical compositions were found to vary among the species. The protein, lipid, moisture and ash content of five samples ranged from 54.31 (P. sophore) to 68.90% (small prawns), 13.33 (P. sophore) to 19.33% (L.rohita), 11.55 (L. rohita) to 13.95% (H. molitrix) and 0.16 (small prawns) to 0.44% (C. mrigala), respectively. The highest value of carbohydrate was 19.23% (P. sophore) and the lowest was 1.75% (C. mrigala). The calcium, iron and phosphorus content of the selected species varied from 2.49 (L. rohita) to 2.55g/kg (small prawns), 0.043 (H. molitrix and P. sophore) to 0.184g/kg (C. mrigala) and 0.94 (L. rohita) to 1.91g/kg (P.sophore), respectively.

The present investigation is a humble attempt to explore fishing techniques of the River Baral from November 2010 to May 2011. Different fish capture methods, fishing gears and crafts that were usually used in the study area have been provided. Hand fishing, cloth fishing, bait fishing and fishing by dewatering were also observed. Causes of habitat degradation and changes of natural habitat and declination of fishes were also observed. Some problems of the fishing community of the study area were also identified. A few policy recommendations have been given in the concluding chapter which may have some positive implication on the life and living of the fishermen in Bangladesh in general and the Baral basin in particular.

Context: Physico-chemical factors directly affect the water quality. Biological parameters varied from pond to pond according to the water quality.Objective: To assess the physico-chemical conditions and plankton abundance in the studied ponds. Materials and Methods:The study was carried out for a period of seven months from June, 2008 to December, 2008 in six ponds of Rajshahi Metropolitan area. Surface water samples were collected once a month at 10-11 am in black plastic bottle and analyzed for the estimation of different parameters. Water temperature, transparency, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), free carbon dioxide (CO2), biological oxygen demand (BOD), nitrite nitrogen (NO2 --N), nitrite (NO2), toxic ammonia, ammonium ion (NH4 + ) and total hardness were measured. The density of plankton was also estimated. Results:The mean values of water temperature varied from 28.73 ± 3.98 (Pond 6) to 29.56 ± 4.68°C (Pond 4) and the pH varied from 7.37 ± 0.26 (Pond 6) to 8.57±0.26 (Pond 4). The DO varied 1.66 ± 1.03 (Pond 1) to 4.68 ± 0.36 mg/l (Pond 6) and the mean value of free CO2 varied from 4.29 ± 0.37 (Pond 5) to 50.91 ±19.30 mg/l (Pond 3). The total hardness was 136.79 ± 20.28 (Pond 6) to 183.14 ± 51.17 mg/l (Pond 3) with NO2 -varied from 0.003 ± 0.002 (Pond 5) to 2.08 ± 0.59 mg/l (Pond 4). The mean total phytoplankton was 28761.43 ± 2912.62 (Pond 2) to 63629.29 ± 20214.44 cells/l (Pond 4) and the mean total zooplankton was 13314.24 ± 3189.70 cells/l (Pond 5) to 18820.00 ± 932.51 cells/l (Pond 4). Conclusion:The deterioration in the physico-chemical quality and plankton population observed in this study is alarming, and periodic monitoring and preventative measures are required to save the aquatic system from eutrophication.