Hilsa output falls for a third year and the fish is getting smaller

After nearly two decades of growth, Bangladesh's hilsa production fell for three years in a row and the fish's average weight began to drop, alarming researchers, BBC Bangla reported on 22 June 2026. A six-year Department of Fisheries project launched in 2020 to raise output had effectively failed, and a new one was being prepared before it ended in June 2026.

Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) is Bangladesh's national fish and was recognised as a geographical indication (GI) product of the country in 2017. According to the FishBase species database, it schools in coastal waters and swims upriver to spawn, usually 50 to 100 kilometres.

Department of Fisheries data put production at 199,000 tonnes in 2002-03, rising on average every year after. Officials told BBC Bangla that output reached 571,000 tonnes in 2022-23, then 529,000 tonnes in 2023-24 and 504,000 tonnes in 2024-25. No official figure for 2025-26 was available yet, but officials estimated it at under 500,000 tonnes.

Molla Emdadullah, director of the Department of Fisheries' hilsa resource development and management project, acknowledged the decline. "Production kept rising because of measures such as halting hilsa fishing in the breeding season. But it started to stumble from the 2022-23 financial year," he told BBC Bangla. Large fish still turned up, he said, but lighter hilsa made up more of the catch.

Officials and experts say hilsa stay in rivers six to seven months after spawning in October, then move to sea in late April or early May. The main grounds are Chandpur Sadar and Haimchar, the Padma from Lohajang in Munshiganj to Zajira, the Gajaria river at Mehendiganj, some rivers of Barishal and Barguna, and the Tetulia at Bhola. Emdadullah believed catches in the estuaries had weakened the move from river to sea.

Experts said small hilsa were being taken in rivers with current nets, and commercial trawlers were accused of catching small fish at sea in waters shallower than 40 metres. "The navigability crisis in the rivers and pollution are the main reasons hilsa production has fallen," Emdadullah said, adding that silt chars had damaged migration routes, breeding grounds and nursery areas.

Heavy jatka (juvenile hilsa) catches and illegal fishing pushed the authorities to act from around 2000. From 2015 the government banned fishing in the Bay of Bengal every year from 20 May to 23 July; from 2025 the ban ran from 15 April to 11 June instead. Bangladesh has five hilsa sanctuaries: two on the Padma and Meghna and one each on the Tetulia, Gajaria and Kalabadar rivers. A sanctuary on the Andharmanik river at Kalapara was no longer functioning.

Dr Anisur Rahman, a hilsa researcher and former director of the fisheries science institute, said: "Bigger hilsa had started to appear. It is essential to identify why production and weight suddenly began to fall." If jatka are not allowed to grow, he said, there will be no big fish; salt water pushing towards fresh water and reduced river flow could also cut production.

Prices had been rising for two years. The week before the report, a buyer said he paid nearly 3,500 taka a kilogram for fish of 900 to 950 grams at a Chandpur wholesale market, while at Karwan Bazar in Dhaka sellers were asking more than 2,000 taka a kilogram on average for 800 to 900 gram fish.

According to the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute, hilsa makes up about 12 percent of the country's total fish production. Estimates of Bangladesh's share of the world's hilsa differ: about 60 percent by the institute's figures, and roughly 70 to 80 percent by the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock's claim. After Bangladesh Agricultural University scientists decoded the fish's full genome in 2018, major gains in conservation and production had been expected.

Given the complaints about trawlers, Emdadullah said a new sea-focused project was being considered. Recovery could take years, he said, but excess trawlers had to be controlled to rebuild stocks. Bangladesh Agricultural University was then studying hilsa along the coasts of Bangladesh, Myanmar and India, with Dr Anisur Rahman on the research team. Both said surveillance on rivers and at sea had to be stepped up.

Photo: Rezowan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sources: BBC Bangla, FishBase, Wikipedia