Different districts of Bangladesh have their own history, heritage and recognised products. On that basis, Chandpur district is widely celebrated for its hilsa, and is often called the "home of hilsa".
This time, however, Barguna district has demanded that it be declared the "hilsa district", on the strength of its total hilsa production.
Why has a sudden debate broken out over where hilsa belongs?
Barguna's claim
The debate began at a hilsa festival held in Barguna on Wednesday.
There the organisers claimed that Barguna's six upazilas have about 40,000 fishermen, and that the district is several steps ahead of Chandpur in hilsa production.
For that reason, they say, Barguna deserves to be the "hilsa district".
Production figures
According to WorldFish, about 85% of the world's hilsa is produced in Bangladesh.
In the 2018-19 financial year, about five lakh tonnes of hilsa were caught from Bangladesh's rivers and sea.
By production, Bhola district in Barishal division ranks first. In 2017-18, about 1.7 lakh tonnes of hilsa were landed in the district.
Source: BBC Bangla. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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