Barisal: After the 22-day ban on hilsa collection, transport and sale, fishermen started fishing in the river and sea from midnight last night.
From Friday (November 03) morning, river fish including hilsa have been seen in the southern fish ponds.
However, in addition to hilsa, the import of large river pangas has also increased in the market.
Fishermen say that after the ban on the main breeding season for the past few years, large pangas have been caught in the southern rivers. Even this time, his decline is not seen.
Resident and fisherman of Charbaria area of Barisal Sadar Upazila told Kader that he had cast a net to catch hilsa in the Trimohana of Lamchari in the early morning. 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.
Meanwhile, wholesale traders say that a large amount of pangas fish is available after the ban. Although the price of pangas is lower than comparable hilsa, buyers are always more interested in river pangas.
However, buyers say that despite the import of so much pangas, no trader is offering prices below Tk 600 per kg. There is no Pangas under five kg in the market. Some of the pangas have a weight of 10 kg or more. In that case it will cost 3000 taka to buy a whole pangas.
And in this case, 2-3 people are buying the pangas of the river, said the fishermen. Rajib of Portroad said that he has cut 6-7 large pangus fish since morning. All of which were bought in parts, he divided them after cutting.
Rosen, a trader at the fish landing center, said that river hilsa has started coming to the market after the 22-day ban to protect egg-bearing hilsa. 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.
In this regard, Fisheries Officer (Hilsha) Bimal Chandra Das 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 pangus fish are caught in the rivers. Today, the eyes go around the market towards the pangas, because there are many pangas in the fish landing center.
District Fisheries Officer said the benefits of the activities implemented by the Department of Fisheries under the guidance of the government. Asaduzzaman said, our various activities are ongoing throughout the year. For example, our hilsa fishing and jatka fishing are stopped at the scheduled time. Apart from this, the use of small leak nets and nets including current nets is prohibited. The main aim of these is to prevent the destruction of the young fish.
He said, although our activities were done targeting Hilsa, the activities of destroying other fish fry were also stopped. In this one subject is on target while others are being saved. As a result, various types of fish including Pangas, Ai, Ramsos, Poa have returned to the river.
He said that since there were no nets in the river during the ban, the pangas had the opportunity to ascend unhindered and roam the entire river area. And since pangas likes food, it is natural to see pangas in places where food is abundant.
Meanwhile, after the 22-day ban, the fishermen, wholesalers, retailers, laborers and common people thronged the Portroad fish landing center since Friday morning. In short, the sluggish market has suddenly become active.
Bangladesh Time: 1456 hours, November 03, 2023
MS/SIA
