Gani Mia set out on the Meghna in his boat on Saturday with three helpers. He lives in the Jagannathpur area of Bhairab in Kishoreganj, and the aim was to catch boal with a hook and line. They set lines baited with puti fish in the Sonrampur area of the Meghna estuary, between Bhairab in Kishoreganj and Ashuganj in Brahmanbaria. At one point the line gave a violent jerk, and everyone thought something big had taken the bait. When the line was slowly hauled in, a huge shapla pata fish (stingray) came to the surface.

Now everyone's eyes widened. There was no way to keep the fish on the hook, and several other fishermen came to help. In the end the fish was weakened by striking it with a fishing spear, and after 30 minutes' effort it was brought ashore. It weighed nearly seven maunds.

Gani Mia earns his living fishing on the Meghna.

Earlier, on 15 November last year, another shapla pata fish weighing seven maunds was caught in the same area.

Local fishermen said that on the evening of the catch the fish was first taken to the Ashuganj wholesale market, where it could not be sold. At about 8pm it was taken to the Bhairab night fish market, where the owner of Nadia fish wholesale bought it for Tk 45,000. He later cut it into pieces to sell. Crowds of curious people gathered at the market to see the fish.

"At first I thought a big boal had been caught. It was pulling very hard. Then I thought it wasn't a boal. I had no idea it could be a shapla pata fish," Gani Mia said. His helper Kajal Mia said: "I was very happy when I saw the fish. But I was also scared it might get away! It was very hard to bring it in."

Mojibur Rahman, president of the Bhairab night fish market cooperative society, said shapla pata fish were once caught in the Meghna almost every day. Now no more than one or two are seen in a year.

Source: Prothom Alo. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.