River Meghna and Tentulia are teeming with an out-of-season surge of large hilsa. Fishermen from Bhola, who has put away their fishing nets after the rainy season was over, have started sailing one again to catch this hugely popular fish.
According to Bhola fisheries office, 9,222 metric tonnes of hilsa was caught last November, followed by 5,526 metric tonnes on December and a whopping 16,550 metric tonnes in January. However, fishermen and traders from seven upazilas of Bhola claimed they netted up over 20,000 metric tonnes of big hilsa.
Daulatkhan fisheries officer Tushar Majumdar and Charfashon upazila fisheries officer Mohammad Kamal said most of the hilsa were over 11 inches in length and weighed almost 900-1000 grams.
During a weeklong visit around Bhola sadar upazila, this correspondent found the hilsa market bustling with busy fishermen and fish traders. The fishermen said they were catching fish worth Tk 5,000-10,000 everyday.
Alamgir Hossain, a wholesaler at the new Patarkhal fish ghat said, “Usually winter is the dry season for fishermen and fish traders, but this year an unusual quantity of big hilsa and other fishes have turned up.”
The fish traders said the price of hilsa is not affected by the ongoing hartal and blockade because they transport fishes to the markets of Dhaka, Chandpur, Barisal and Khulna through waterways. The market price of a pair of big hilsa is Tk 1,500. Wholesalers are buying hilsa based on that ratio.
Mohammad Anisur Rahman, a senior hilsa researcher at Fisheries Research Institute, said over 42% of the hilsa population were able to hatch eggs during breeding season this year, which might have contributed this off season hilsa boom. He described this winter hilsa surge as a positive phenomenon.
-ProthomAlo