Hilsa market at Port Road, Barisal city.
A lot of hilsa has been caught in the fishermen’s nets after the ban in the river; Pangas is also available. But the price remains the same.
Fishermen were seen bringing in a lot of hilsa and pangas fish at Port Road in Barisal city on Friday. Fishermen, wholesalers, retailers, laborers and common people were crowded in this market since morning.
On this day, 900 to 1000 maunds of hilsa were sold on Port Road. Among them, one kilogram of 200 grams of hilsa was sold at the price of 62,000 per maund.
In addition, 900 grams to 1 kg of hilsa per maund is 42 thousand taka; 600 to 700 grams of hilsa were sold at Tk 32,000 per maund and jatka at Tk 12,000 per maund.
On the other hand, pangas fish was seen to be sold at the rate of Tk 21 thousand per maund.
Barisal District Fisheries Officer (Hilsa) Bimal Chandra Das claims that the price is a little low due to the abundance of hilsa in the market.
The fish trader claims that the price is the same as before. Rana said, after the 22-day ban on hilsa hunting, fishermen started throwing nets in the river from Thursday night. Along with hilsa, pangas have been caught in nets. But small size hilsa is more.
Fisheries officer Bimal Chandra said that it is normal for hilsa to have eggs in its stomach throughout the year. So the hilsa with eggs has come up. Most of the hilsa have released eggs due to the main breeding season. By observing market conditions and talking to fishermen, it is understood that there are fish in the river.
Fishermen from Charbaria area of Barisal Sadar Upazila said that in the early morning, they had cast a net to catch hilsa in the three estuary of Lamchari village of Kirtankhola river. Along with hilsa, an eight kg pangus was also caught there.
Later, he found out that most of the fishing nets in their area caught pangus fish as well as hilsa.
Rosen, a trader at the fish landing center, said that river hilsa has started coming to the market after the ban. Every year, other fishes of the river are also available along with hilsa. Where a good amount of pangus is available this year as well.
About getting Pangas in the river, Bimal Chandra said, Pangas fish also come to the river at this time to release eggs like Hilsa. So every year at this time a lot of pangas are caught in the rivers.
Barisal District Fisheries Officer said that the fishermen are getting the benefits of the activities implemented by the Fisheries Department. Asaduzzaman said, “We have various activities going on throughout the year. For example, catching hilsa at the appointed time, not catching jatka.
“Apart from this, the use of small leaky nets and chai including current nets is stopped. The main aim of these is to prevent the destruction of the young fish.”
He also said that the measures taken to focus on hilsa have saved other fish fry from destruction. As a result, various species of fish including Pangas, Ai, Ramsos, Poa have returned to the river.
During the embargo, the pangas were able to ascend unhindered as there were no nets in the river; As a result, this fish is moving around the river area, he said.
As Pangas likes food, this fish will be seen where there is more food, according to the fisheries officer.
