A pangas weighing 15 kilograms has been caught in a fisherman's net on the Meghna river off Monpura upazila in Bhola. At the Ramnewaz fish landing in Monpura union on Tuesday afternoon it was auctioned for Tk 20,100, about Tk 1,340 a kilo. Fishermen, traders and curious onlookers crowded the ghat to see it.

Local sources said fisherman Arif Majhi hauled in the fish at about 12.30pm when he lifted a net set specifically for pangas. He had cast it for pangas, he said, and took the catch to Momin Talukder's depot at Ramnewaz to sell.

Traders Firoz and Nahid said depot owner Momin Talukder paid about Tk 1,340 a kilo including VAT, and that a pangas this large seldom appears in the local market. Momin Talukder said the fish would go by launch to the wholesale market at Jatrabari in Dhaka, where it could fetch a better price.

Jayanta Kumar, senior fisheries officer for Charfassion and Monpura upazilas, said the monsoon's stronger currents and deeper water raise the chances of large native fish being caught in the Meghna, but a 15-kilo pangas is unusual, which is why buyers show such interest. Monpura's fishermen hope that if the season holds, more large fish will be landed in the coming weeks.

Pangas is among Bangladesh's most important commercial fish, the officer said. Farmed output is huge, but large wild pangas from the rivers are comparatively rare, and their taste and size command much higher demand and prices than ordinary pangas. Each year, after the hilsa spawning season, pangas move down from upstream into the estuarine rivers to spawn.

Source: Prothom Alo