Two hilsa caught in a fisher's net have been sold for Tk 11,500 in Hatiya, Noakhali. The fish, weighing about 5kg together, were sold at the Chairman Ghat fish wholesale market around midday on 23 August.

Md Bahar Uddin, a fisher from Ramgati in Lakshmipur, cast his net in the Meghna river at dawn and hauled it in a few hours later. Along with a number of small and medium hilsa, two large ones were caught.

To get a good price, he took the two fish to the Chairman Ghat fish market, where local fish trader Koydor Ali Bhandari bought them for Tk 11,500.

Md Bahar Uddin said: "I got poa fish and hilsa at sea. Among them were two big queen hilsa, which I sold at a good price. Alhamdulillah, I am very happy."

Koydor Ali Bhandari said: "I bought the two fish, weighing 5kg, for Tk 11,500. I have buyers in Dhaka and will send them there. Such big hilsa have not been caught this season. God willing, I will be able to sell them at a good price."

Md Akbar Hossain, a fish trader at Chairman Ghat, said fishers were waiting ashore with their boats because the sea was rough. There is currently a scarcity of fish, leaving fishers, traders, wholesalers and labourers all deep in debt. Some are catching fish and some are not, he said, but when there are fish, everyone smiles.

Hatiya upazila fisheries officer Md Fahad Hasan said big fish are often caught and fetch good prices. Enforcement of the government's periodic fishing bans for conservation has increased the number of large fish in the river, he said. "We hope fishers will catch more and more large fish at sea in future, which will bring smiles to their faces and cause a stir in the market."

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