The 58-day ban on catching hilsa at sea ended on 11 June, and fishermen have been catching hilsa at sea since then, with good catches. But unable to withstand rough weather, fishermen have begun returning to shore.

Fishermen and fish traders say very little hilsa was caught at first, but the quantity has risen over the last few days.

At Alipur-Mohipur, the large fish landing centre of the south, a great deal of hilsa has arrived, bringing smiles to trawler owners, wholesalers, traders and fishermen. Activity is returning to the coastal fishing ports.

Four days ago, boat master Jahangir Hossain set out to sea from the Alipur landing centre with 18 fishermen and caught 60 maunds of fish in four days. He wanted to fish more but could not hold out in the rough weather and was forced back to shore. He is not alone; many fishermen are returning with more or less fish.

Jahangir Hossain, master of the trawler FB Jamal, said: "A lot of small hilsa is being caught at present; comparatively few large ones. Eighteen of us went to sea four days ago. After two days of fishing, we came back to the ghat this (Wednesday) evening with 8,000 hilsa. The fish sold for Tk 35 lakh."

Mizanur Rahman, a wholesaler at Alipur port, said: "Many of our fishermen are coming back without fish, though some are getting fish. Yesterday a few trawlers got some. But Jahangir majhi got fish worth nearly Tk 35 lakh in just four days. If all fishermen caught fish like that, there would be no hardship."

Apu Saha, the senior upazila fisheries officer for Kalapara, said there had been a hilsa drought at sea for quite some time, but now shoals of hilsa are being caught in fishermen's nets. With rain, even more hilsa will be caught, he said, but fishermen need to be careful in rough weather.

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