Scientists at the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) had successfully bred 40 near-extinct native fish species through artificial breeding, Jago News reported in July 2025. Fry of 12 of those species were by then being produced on a large scale in hatcheries around the country, bringing the fish under cultivation, raising supply and lowering market prices.
Why native fish were disappearing
Bangladesh has about 260 freshwater fish species, 143 of them small fish. Population growth, shrinking water bodies and overfishing destroyed many of their breeding and feeding grounds. The IUCN Bangladesh Red List of 2015 assessed 253 freshwater fish species and found 64 of them threatened: 9 critically endangered, 30 endangered and 25 vulnerable.
According to BFRI, the species bred so far included pabda, gulsha, tengra, koi, magur, shing, guji air, deshi sarpunti, jatpunti, bata, balachata, kuchia, kursha, khalisha, bheda, gutum, dhela, gajar, foli, chital, gonia, mohashol, boirali, bhagna, angus, batasi, puiya, kakila, piali and rani. Twelve of them, among them shing, magur, koi, tengra, pabda, gulsha and boirali, were being produced widely in hatcheries.
A live gene bank and the shal baim breakthrough
To bring the fish back, BFRI collected 88 species from rivers, canals, beels, haors, baors and ponds and kept them in its live gene bank in Mymensingh, which the Dhaka Tribune reports was set up in 2020. For species that had already been bred artificially, the institute was working to produce fry in bulk.
The most recent success came in 2022, when some fry of shal baim, a long, snake-like, scaleless fish, were produced by artificial breeding. Because the fish is popular, scientists were giving it particular attention. BFRI director general Dr Anuradha Bhadra told Jago News that the new breeding technology would make it possible to farm shal baim, and that all native fish would be preserved in the live gene bank in phases.
Senior scientific officer Dr Md Mashiur Rahman said this research had once been carried out only at the institute's Freshwater Research Station in Mymensingh. It later expanded to the Santahar sub-station in Bogura, Saidpur in Nilphamari and Jashore.
Small fish and nutrition
BFRI scientists say native small fish are rich in vitamins and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, iron and iodine, which help prevent anaemia, goitre and blindness. Research by WorldFish, the CGIAR fish research centre, shows that small fish eaten whole, bones and all, are an excellent source of iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin A and vitamin B12; mola can carry more than 2,500 micrograms of retinol equivalents of vitamin A per 100 grams of edible parts.
Output has climbed as well. The Dhaka Tribune reports that small fish production in Bangladesh rose from 67,000 tonnes in 2009 to 261,000 tonnes in 2021.
More supply, lower prices in Mymensingh
At the old Mechhua Bazar in Mymensingh town, native small fish once at risk of disappearing were on sale beside the large fish. Trader Idris Ali told Jago News that fish farms were now raising gulsha, pabda, shing, magur, koi, tengra, boirali and other native small fish, sending large quantities to market every day. Buyer Zahid Hossain said pabda was selling at Tk 380 to 400 a kilogram, when only a few years earlier it was hard to find.
Photo: JIBON / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Sources: Jagonews24, IUCN Bangladesh (Red List of Bangladesh, Volume 5: Freshwater Fishes, 2015), Dhaka Tribune, Samakal, WorldFish
Comments
(0)