Barishal's wholesale fish market is now awash with pangas. For two days, hilsa trawlers have been bringing in more pangas from the Meghna than hilsa. Besides the Meghna, large numbers of pangas are being caught in the Arial Khan, Kalabadar and Lata rivers.

At the Port Road market on Wednesday morning, retailers were laying out big pangas and calling out to buyers. Retailer Ilias Hossain said: "Since the ban ended, more pangas than hilsa have been coming in, and the price is a bit lower too." Shafiq, a fish worker at the Port Road market, said hilsa wholesalers are now trading in pangas. Several hilsa fishermen said that after the 22-day ban, their nets are bringing in more pangas than hilsa.

That morning, Shamim Fakir, a fisherman from Chalkilla on the Meghna in Hizla upazila, brought 28 large pangas to Paresh Das's wholesale shop on Port Road. "I set my net for hilsa and got 28 pangas," he said. "In the month of Kartik, pangas swim in shoals in the river to drink the dew."

Mir Mohammad Ali, assistant professor in the Faculty of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Science at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, said the government's hilsa management measures have also improved the protection and breeding of pangas and other fish in the rivers. Pangas are caught at the start of winter, and after the 22-day ban large numbers are being caught along with hilsa in the Meghna and its branches. Pangas will remain plentiful in the rivers for another month, he said.

Bimal Chandra Das, fisheries officer (hilsa) at the Department of Fisheries in Barishal, said it is now pangas season. Fishermen are also more aware than before and no longer kill young pangas with small-mesh nets. Enforcing the restrictions to protect hilsa has also increased pangas breeding, he said.

Source: Amader Shomoy. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.