Within days of the end of the hilsa ban, supply at Chandpur's Boro Station fish landing centre has dropped away and prices have risen by Tk 300 to Tk 400 a kilo. On the morning of Wednesday 4 November a single boat brought hilsa to the ghat. In other years, traders say, trawlers would line the pontoon at this time and hundreds of maunds would come ashore every day.
Retailer Shamim Hossain said that in the first two days after the ban ended on 29 October, 2,500 to 3,000 maunds of hilsa arrived daily, much of it from Chattogram. Now local fishers supply only 25 to 30 maunds a day. Wholesale trading that normally begins at 10am has shrunk to a few stalls in front of the warehouses, and little fish is being sent on to other districts.
By his account a one-kilo local hilsa now sells for Tk 2,700 to Tk 2,800, an 800-gram fish for Tk 2,000 to Tk 2,200, and smaller hilsa for Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,200 a kilo. Mahmud, a town resident buying at the ghat, said prices were high across the market and sellers would not come down while supply stayed short.
Jahangir Hossain, a seller at Harina ferry ghat in Chandpur Sadar, said local fishers were catching less hilsa than before, although some pangas in their nets was covering the cost of going out. Large pangas is selling for Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,200 a kilo.
Abdul Bari Jamadar Manik, president of the Chandpur fish traders' cooperative, said supply was good and prices lower for a few days after the ban, but that arrivals have now all but stopped. Traders expect the season to end within weeks. If fishers find enough hilsa around the coming new and full moons, he said, supply could recover and prices ease a little.
The report was filed by Muhammad Masud Alam, Banglanews24's district correspondent.
Photo: Mamun2a / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Source: Banglanews24
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