Barishal's markets are now packed with hilsa. The fish are large in size and weight, and prices are within reach. Fishermen, traders and buyers alike are surprised at such an abundance of hilsa in the southern rivers over the past week. Such a boom in hilsa has never been seen at this time of year. Not only Barishal but markets across the south, in Barguna, Patuakhali, Bhola and elsewhere, are flooded with hilsa.

The biggest hilsa market (mokam) in Barishal is on Port Road, and its familiar look has changed. At this time of winter, sea fish usually dominate the mokam, but now freshly caught hilsa have taken over the whole market. Sellers are busy, buyers crowd in and wholesalers are smiling. The holds of the trawlers anchored at the ghat are full of silvery hilsa. Experts do not consider such abundance in winter abnormal; rather, they call it a positive development.

Professor M Niamul Naser of Dhaka University's zoology department told Prothom Alo that this period is the second phase of the hilsa breeding cycle, and it happens towards the end of winter. Thanks to good conservation, the quantity of hilsa has risen this year and their size has increased.

Zahir Uddin, a trader on Port Road in Barishal, said: "I have never seen so many hilsa, and so large, in winter. In previous years only a few came at this time, and they were small and not well fed. But this year is different. It seems good days will return for hilsa."

Traders said 550 maunds of hilsa arrived at the mokam last Saturday, and the same amount on Sunday. On Monday it fell slightly to about 450 maunds. This is unbelievable for this time of year. Fishermen also say the picture is completely different this winter: when they cast their nets in the river, it feels like the peak hilsa season.

Bimal Chandra Das, Barishal district fisheries officer (hilsa), said that in earlier winters 50 to 80 maunds a day used to arrive, and those were small, 300 to 350 grams. Now more than 500 maunds a day arrive at one mokam alone, weighing from 700 grams to over 1 kg.

Ashraf Ali, president of the Port Road fish wholesalers' association, said hilsa were scarce in the peak season this year, but the booming winter market has wiped away all the hardship. Prices are low too. Hilsa of 700 to 900 grams are selling at Tk 25,000 a maund, and those over 1 kg at Tk 30,000 a maund. Hilsa of 450 to 700 grams sell for between Tk 12,000 and Tk 20,000 a maund in the wholesale market.

The Department of Fisheries and the international organisation WorldFish's ECOFISH project regularly survey hilsa size, weight, breeding and prices. According to their latest data, the average size and weight of the country's hilsa have increased over the past three years. The average weight of hilsa caught in 2014 was 510 grams; in 2018 it rose to 880 grams. Over the same period, the share of medium-sized hilsa (half a kg to 1 kg) in the catch rose from 40 per cent to 77 per cent, while the share of jatka (young hilsa) fell from 60 per cent to 13 per cent.

Barishal division's role in the hilsa catch is steadily growing. Over the past 10 years the catch in the division has more than doubled, and for several years it has accounted for more than 66 per cent of the country's total hilsa catch. Fisheries experts expect it to rise further in the current fiscal year.

Source: Prothom Alo. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.