Hilsa catches have risen in Bangladesh over the past few days. About 400 metric tonnes of hilsa were caught in the Meghna river in Lakshmipur district in the past week.
Yet it is commonly believed that the monsoon is hilsa's peak season, when the bulk of the catch is landed.
The Lakshmipur fisheries office says that at the same time in 2019, at most 50 to 60 metric tonnes of fish were caught a week. This time eight times as much is being caught. Officials say nothing like this has been seen in the past 15-20 years.
"Very unusual"
District fisheries officer Mohammad Billal Hossain told the BBC: "This is very unusual. I have not seen anything like it in the past 15-20 years either. It seems this could be a new hilsa season, but we want the season to run all twelve months."
About 60 per cent of the world's hilsa is produced in Bangladesh, and the most famous is the Padma hilsa. Hilsa experts say the fish living in the Padma-Meghna basin are the most famous for their taste.
Mr Hossain said the hilsa now being caught are mainly fish that have come from the sea to the river estuary. Earlier, hilsa came to the estuary only at spawning time.
Source: BBC Bangla. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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