A hilsa weighing two and a half kilograms has been caught in a fisherman's net in Kalapara, Patuakhali. The fish was later sold for Tk 8,750.

At midday on 11 September the fish was brought to Moni Fish at the Alipur fish wholesale market, where it was sold at open auction at Tk 1,42,000 a maund (Tk 3,500 a kg).

It had been caught earlier, on 8 September, deep in the Bay of Bengal off Kuakata.

PM Musa, proprietor of Kuakata Fresh Fish, bought the fish at the auction. He said he would sell it to a US-based expatriate from Gazipur.

Fisherman Masum Billah said the hilsa came up with other fish when they cast their net deep in the Bay of Bengal.

"Such big fish are very rarely seen in this market now. That is why I bought this one at the auction. An expatriate living in the United States, from Gazipur, wanted to buy a big fish like this from me. I am trying to sell it to him," said Musa.

"Big hilsa mainly bring good news for fishers. Along with deep-sea fishers, coastal fishers are also now getting big hilsa. But mostly small hilsa are being caught now; only occasionally are one or two big ones seen," said Apu Saha, senior upazila fisheries officer of Kalapara.

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