While there is uproar across the country over the price of hilsa, fishermen are suffering from a shortage of the fish and buyers are frustrated by the price. Against this backdrop, a hilsa of about 2kg was caught in the net of a fisherman named Jamal Matubbar in Kalapara, Patuakhali, and sold for Tk 7,700.

On the afternoon of Sunday, 6 July, at an open auction at the Ashakhali fish market in the upazila, the bidding reached Tk 1 lakh 40 thousand a maund. Jamal Majhi sold the hilsa, weighing 2kg 200g, for Tk 7,700. It was bought by Md Zahidul Islam, owner of Bandhan Fish.

Boat master Jamal Matubbar said he had gone to sea to fish on Saturday but returned to shore because of bad weather. Hilsa are scarce, but he sold one hilsa for Tk 7,700, so he was very pleased even with a small catch. Bigger hilsa are found at sea, he said, but with prices so high now, what he got was enough to make up for it.

Md Zahidul Islam Zahid, managing director of Bandhan Fish, said that although the 60-day ban ended on 11 June, fishermen had not been able to fish properly because of repeated spells of bad weather. On Sunday, however, fisherman Jamal sold a single fish for nearly Tk 8,000, which was a great joy for him. "I bought the fish and sent it to Dhaka," he said.

Conversations at several fish markets in the upazila showed that hilsa prices are sky-high despite the shortage. Hilsa of over 1kg sold at Tk 1 lakh to Tk 1.5 lakh a maund; 800-900g hilsa at Tk 95,000 to 98,000; 600-700g hilsa at Tk 70,000 to 85,000; 500-600g hilsa at Tk 65,000 to 68,000; 400-500g hilsa at Tk 60,000; and jatka (young hilsa) at Tk 45,000 a maund.

Senior upazila fisheries officer Apu Saha said fish stocks in the sea had increased because the 60-day ban was properly observed, but fishermen were failing to fish properly in the hostile weather. Once the weather improves, catches will rise and prices will come within reach, he said.

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