Rui, katla, chitol, boal and shol are there as expected, but so are tuna, coral and sailfish from the distant sea. Lalbazar in Sylhet city, a market famous for its fish, is packed with people coming to buy and to look, as a three-day fish sale and exhibition is held for Poush Sankranti, the festival marked on the last day of the month of Poush.

The fair, organised by the Lalbazar Fish Traders' Cooperative Society, was formally opened at around 12 noon on Monday. From the first day the market was crowded with visitors and buyers. The fish are being sold and displayed at 80 stalls.

On Monday afternoon Lalbazar was decorated with lights, and the three gates into the fair ground glittered. Fish from the haors, farmed fish and sea fish brought from Chattogram are on offer.

On sale are rui, katla, chitol, boal, shol, bagar, hilsa, grass carp, sea tuna, coral, sailfish, bhol, bain, shaplapata and many other species. A 31 kg boal, large chitol and sea sailfish caught the eye of visitors and buyers.

Sellers are asking Tk 45,000 for the boal and Tk 20,000 for a chitol of about 12 kg. They are asking Tk 1,200 a kg for shaplapata, Tk 400 a kg for tuna, Tk 450 a kg for bhol, Tk 1,500 a kg for sailfish and Tk 700 to Tk 1,000 a kg for hilsa depending on size. Visitors are checking prices and sales are keeping pace. The fair ends on Wednesday.

Dwiparaj Chakraborty, who came to buy fish, said: "Poush Sankranti is a festival for Bengalis. I have come to the fair to share the joy with relatives over a big fish." He added: "I bought a four-kilogram chitol at Tk 800 a kg."

Rahul Nath, a visitor, said: "I saw two sea fish at the fair that I had never seen in the market before, one a pankhiraj and the other a shaplapata. I have looked today; I will buy fish tomorrow."

Fish trader Md Shipon said: "For the fair I brought a pankhiraj (sailfish) of about 25 kg through a trader in Chattogram. I am asking Tk 35,000 for it. If the whole fish does not sell, I will cut it up and sell it at Tk 1,500 a kg."

Another seller, Ibrahim Mia, said: "I brought a shaplapata along with other fish. Visitors are crowding round to see it." He said the fish, weighing about seven kilograms, was priced at Tk 10,000.

Golzar Ahmed, general secretary of the Lalbazar Fish Traders' Cooperative Society, told Prothom Alo: "Some local fish are on the verge of extinction. We collect those fish and bring them to the fair to sell and display. A fish fair has been held at Lalbazar every year for Poush Sankranti since 2017. We hope to keep the fair going in future."

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