Fishermen have caught a giant "king hilsa" in the Meghna river in Bhola. The fish, weighing 2 kg 130 g, sold for Tk 9,000.

It was sold at around 6:45pm on Monday, 6 July, at the Tulatuli fish ghat in Bhola Sadar upazila.

Md Manju Islam, a trader at Tulatuli fish ghat, said a fisherman brought the 2 kg 130 g king hilsa to the wholesale depot of A Khalek Member at the ghat in the evening, and it was then sold at auction for Tk 9,000.

Wholesaler A Khalek Member said that in the afternoon Gias Uddin Majhi, a fisherman from Madanpur union in Daulatkhan upazila, went out in a boat to fish in the Meghna in that area. When he hauled in his net he found several hilsa of different sizes, including the 2 kg 130 g king hilsa. After dusk he brought the fish to Khalek's depot, where the king hilsa was auctioned openly in the presence of various wholesalers at the ghat. Md Kamal Bepari, a wholesaler at the ghat, bought it with the highest bid of Tk 9,000.

Md Nasim, manager of Kamal Bepari's depot, said they bought the king hilsa with the top bid in the auction. It would be sent that night with other hilsa to the wholesale market at Mawa, where they hoped to sell it for Tk 10,000 to Tk 10,500.

Md Mehedi Hasan Bhuiyan, senior fisheries officer of Bhola Sadar upazila, said that because of heavy rainfall hilsa are now coming up from the sea into the rivers, most of them large. The king hilsa was among them, and more large hilsa will be caught in the coming days.

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