The hilsa season has begun, but fishers' nets are coming up nearly empty. As a result hilsa prices in the market are sky-high, and low-income people are forgetting the taste of the national fish.

A visit to the Port Road wholesale fish landing centre in Barishal city on Tuesday morning (2 June) showed that about 60 maunds of hilsa had arrived, when thousands of maunds should be coming in at this time. With supply short, prices have risen.

Hilsa of about 1kg are selling for Tk 2,500 to 3,000 a kg. Hilsa of 700 to 900 grams (LC size) are selling for Tk 2,050 to 2,400 a kg, 500-gram fish for Tk 1,800 a kg and 400-gram fish for Tk 1,500 to 1,600 a kg.

Traders said the arats should be full of hilsa at this time, yet there is no sign of the fish in the rivers even in the peak season, and prices are high because supply is short.

Nasir Uddin, proprietor of Lia Arat at the Port Road hilsa market, said there is very little hilsa in the rivers. For the past few days only 50 to 60 maunds have reached the market, when 200 to 300 maunds should be coming in at this time.

Md Robin, manager of M/s Dulal Fish, said: "Even a year or two ago, 2,000 maunds of hilsa were traded at the Port Road arats by the end of the day in the peak season. Now the picture is completely reversed. For several days no more than 60 maunds have come in. So although there is demand, prices are rising because there is not enough hilsa."

Yar Hossain Shikder, former finance secretary of the Port Road fish landing centre owners' association, told Jagonews24 that in the peak season 1,000 to 1,200 maunds of hilsa used to arrive every day at their 170 arats, with sales running to crores of taka. Now sales are only Tk 25 to 30 lakh.

Buyers said they are going home with other fish because hilsa costs more than before.

Shahin, who had come to buy fish at the Port Road wholesale market, said: "Hilsa that used to cost Tk 1,400 to 1,600 a kg now costs Tk 2,200 to 2,500. Prices have been raised by a syndicate on the pretext of short supply. These are fish from our own rivers and sea. I see no reason for such high prices."

Buyer Sohel Rana said: "I came to the Port Road wholesale market instead of my local market hoping to buy a little cheaper. But here it is selling at the same high prices as the retail market. Still, I bought four small hilsa of 700 to 800 grams for Tk 3,000."

Rasel Sikder, another buyer, said: "I came to buy hilsa but couldn't manage the price, so I had to buy pangas. A kilo of 500-gram hilsa costs Tk 1,800, when it used to be Tk 800 to 900. The price of pangas has also gone up. I bought pangas for Tk 280, which used to be between Tk 150 and 200."

Aslam, a fisherman out to catch hilsa, said: "There is no hilsa and no jatka either. For now I am getting by on loans." He hopes fish will be caught once it rains.

Sagir, a fisherman on the Kirtankhola river, said: "I went out on the river obeying the ban, yet there is no hilsa in sight. If this goes on, I will have to sell my net to pay off my debts."

On the shortage of hilsa despite the start of the season, Barishal fisheries officer Dr Hadiuzzaman told Jagonews24: "Although the hilsa season starts in June, the peak season begins in July. As soon as it rains, hilsa will come from the sea into the rivers. This year, because of strict monitoring of the sixth sanctuary in March and April, the killing of jatka fell. To protect jatka, the ban continues in the rivers until 30 June and at sea until 11 June. But there is no bar on catching hilsa."

Researchers say about 90 percent of the jatka in the sanctuaries reached the sea this year, and the benefit may come towards the end of the season, in September and October. The fishing ban at sea runs until 11 June, but if it were extended a little longer the jatka would grow bigger and the full benefit could be gained.

Mohammad Nasir Uddin, deputy project director of the Hilsa Resource Development and Management project, said shoals of chapila-sized jatka (young hilsa) went to sea by the end of April this year, whereas last year the shoals went to sea in the first week of May. This time, because of Department of Fisheries monitoring, few chapila-sized jatka could be caught with pai nets, and they reached the sea after growing to 5 to 6 inches in the rivers. They estimate that 90 percent of the jatka went to sea compared with last year, and what is needed now is to let them grow in the sea.

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