GalleryRui, catla and mrigal; shing, magur and pabda; chital, hilsa, shol, mola and the featherback: eighteen of the native fish that once filled every beel and canal in Bangladesh, photographed. Many are vanishing; some survive thanks to fish farmers and researchers.
The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock on Sunday served a show-cause notice on the Department of Fisheries' acting director general Dr Md Khaled Kanak for permitting hilsa imports from Gujarat without informing it; NBR data show 22 firms imported 352,786 kg through Benapole in July and August, wort
Letters of 12 October 2025 and 15 September 2026 from the Department of Fisheries asking the ministry to restrict imports of rui, katla, boal and hilsa and lift domestic output remain unactioned; 450 tonnes of hilsa have come through Benapole this fiscal year, and DG Dr Md Khaled Kanak says irregula
FisheriesBacha, a prized river fish, is a good source of protein, omega-3, calcium and vitamin D and sells at a premium. With catches from the rivers falling, here is what it takes to farm it in a pond: the season, the pond and its water, how many fingerlings, what to feed, how to prevent disease, and when to sell.
FisheriesAlways in demand, content in a small pond and modest in its feed needs. With a flood-free pond and strong banks, 500 to 1,000 fry per decimal, feed of 32 per cent protein and steady care, each shing reaches 60 to 70 grams in six to seven months. The full method, from choosing the pond to the harvest.
FisheriesMarket size in six to eight months, demand all year and low costs have made pangas one of Bangladesh's most widely farmed fish. A full guide to native and Thai pangas, intensive culture, pond selection and preparation, stocking, feeding, water care and selling.
The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock and ICCCAD have signed an MoU to build climate capacity in the sector and to pursue Green Climate Fund and other international financing.
The FB Nazma of Patharghata netted about 95 maunds (3.5 tonnes) of hilsa in one cast in the deep Bay of Bengal, the first haul of its size this season, fetching around Tk 3 million.
Department of Fisheries yearbook data put the Lower Padma hilsa catch at 622 tonnes in 2024-25, against 1,159 tonnes in 2020-21; fishermen in Daulatpur, Shibalay and Harirampur are turning to farming and rickshaws.
A 33 kg baghair catfish caught by fisherman Seken Halder at the Padma-Jamuna confluence was auctioned at the Daulatdia fish market for Tk 72,600 and resold to a Dhaka trader for Tk 79,200.
Department of Fisheries figures show Bangladesh's hilsa output falling from 571,000 tonnes in 2022-23 to 504,000 in 2024-25, while Gujarat landed 14,588 tonnes in 2025-26; scientists say the Narmada estuary near Bharuch has become favourable to the migratory fish.
The government has nominated the Halda — Asia's only tidal natural carp spawning river — for UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere programme, with the 2,709-hectare Hazarikhil sanctuary as core zone and a 10,588-hectare buffer along the banks.
Between 6 am and 9.30 am, 24 wholesale sheds and local fishermen at Chowar Fari in Matamuhuri upazila sell about Tk 50 million of mostly un-iced fish a day; July floods that breached shrimp enclosures have pushed prices up this year.
