It is the peak hilsa season, but the Padma seems empty of the fish. Fishermen casting their nets in the river in Sadarpur upazila of Faridpur are catching no hilsa, returning empty-handed after working day and night.

The water in the Padma has risen over the past ten days, but hilsa are not being caught as before. The hilsa that are found are small. Occasionally a few large fish turn up, but very few, and they are priced beyond the reach of ordinary buyers.

Fishermen say that because so much hilsa is caught in the Meghna and along the sea coast, few fish can now enter the Padma. Catching hilsa is hard work: they stay out on the Padma day and night and still see no fish, returning more or less empty-handed. Even when a team of six or seven catches a few, selling them does not cover the cost of fuel, let alone their labour.

According to the Sadarpur upazila fisheries office, fishermen of Diara Narikel Baria, Dheukhali, Akoter Char and Char Nasirpur unions are mainly involved in hilsa fishing. At least seven thousand people in these unions are fishermen, of whom about 650 hold fisher cards.

Fisherman Mukleshur Rahman said that over the past few days they had braved the rain and hardship on the Padma and come back more or less empty-handed. "There are six or seven of us in our team. The few hilsa we caught over these days did not even cover the fuel money, never mind our labour."

Fisherman Abul Hossain said: "I have been out on the Padma for ten days straight. We cast our nets but don't see the hilsa we hoped for. Once in a while we get one or two, but they are very small and don't fetch a good price. Our profession is catching hilsa. If we can't catch hilsa, how will we feed our families? I can't change my forefathers' profession even if I want to, but if this goes on I see no way other than changing it."

Md Joynal Sheikh, a hilsa trader at Piazkhali bazar, said hilsa are not being caught in the river and good quantities would be found after the Bengali month of Bhadra. "For the past few years very little hilsa has been found in the Padma. Before, there was more hilsa and the price was low. Now there is less hilsa, but the price is much higher." A one-kilogram Padma hilsa is now selling at Tk 3,000-4,000 a kg, and smaller hilsa at Tk 1,000-2,000, he said.

Ashik Mollah, who had come to Kalikhola bazar in the upazila to buy hilsa, said he had come from Faridpur Sadar to buy fresh fish. "I found some hilsa, but small, and the price is comparatively much higher. I bought a few kilos. If there were more hilsa in the market, I might have been able to buy them cheaper."

Sadarpur upazila fisheries officer Md Mehedi Hasan said there is a close link between water flow and the movement of hilsa. With the rise in river water, fishermen are catching comparatively fewer hilsa. Plenty of hilsa have been caught in the Meghna over the past fifteen days, and more are expected in the Padma once the water recedes a little, he said.

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