The 22-day ban on catching hilsa has ended. The ban began on October 4 and ended at 12 midnight on October 25. But right after it ended, on the morning of Sunday (October 26), fishermen arrived at the Alipur-Mohipur landing ghat in Patuakhali with thousands of hilsa. Because the ice plants were closed, however, the hilsa on most trawlers had rotted.

The same scene was seen all day at this landing centre, one of the largest in the country.

Alipur-Mohipur ghat is Patuakhali's biggest fish landing centre, where hilsa-laden trawlers drop anchor. Most of the trawlers come from Bhola, Banshkhali and Patharghata.

From the morning, every warehouse (arot) at Alipur-Mohipur was selling hilsa weighing 300 to 700 grams. There were also some 1 kg hilsa, though fewer. Labourers had piled the fish from the trawlers in the warehouses, but most of it had gone bad. Compared with before, this time's hilsa were reddish and, because they had rotted, fishermen were not getting a good price.

Fishermen said much of the hilsa rotted because there was not enough ice.

Warehouse owners said that since the ban was lifted, fishermen are finding fish as soon as they cast their nets in the estuaries. But the fish now being sold in the warehouses were caught five to seven days ago.

A Mannan, a fisherman on the trawler FB Abdullah who came from Bhola to sell fish, said: "We went to sea to fish 10 days ago. We cast our nets twice and got nothing. But four days ago we cast once and got fish. Today we sold 12,000 pieces. All the trawlers here have come back to the ghat with fish. Some got 5,000, some 10,000 and some up to 12,000 pieces."

Asked how he went to sea during the ban, he said: "We went to sea with great difficulty, risking our lives. We don't get the rice the government gives properly. So we went to sea by stealth. If the police had seen us, they would have sent us to jail. We reached Alipur port at 3am on Saturday night and waited to come to the ghat when the ban ended at 12. The warehouse owner told us: you go to sea, we'll take care of it."

Minhaj, a fisherman on the trawler FB Rahmat from Patharghata in Barguna, said: "We went to sea four days ago. We came to Alipur after 12 last night. We have sold the fish, and after a day we will go back to sea to fish."

Md Mizanur Rahman, director of Bhai Bhai Fish, a trader at the Alipur fish landing centre, said many fishermen went to sea after 12 midnight. Deep-sea fishermen will return in two or three more days, but those who cast nets in the estuaries and along the coast have all come to the ghat with fish.

Kalapara Upazila Senior Fisheries Officer Apu Saha said: "How much the fish in the sea have increased, I will be able to say after two or three more days. The fishermen of Alipur-Mohipur port observed the ban properly."

Fish sales began right after the ban ended, he said. Asked how fishermen had caught fish during the ban, he said Alipur-Mohipur is one of the country's biggest fish landing centres and trawlers come from all over the country to sell fish there. "But how these trawlers went to sea during the ban, and where and how they brought the fish from, I do not know."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.