Fishers in Faridpur allege irregularities in the distribution of VGF rice during the jatka ban, receiving 60 kg instead of the 160 kg allotted per person, while the fisheries officer says the allocation was short.
Although catching and selling jatka is banned in Chandpur through March and April, it is being sold openly in areas along the Meghna.
About 3 lakh fishermen in Bhola, idled by a two-month fishing ban on the Meghna and Tentulia, are demanding a halt to NGO loan instalments and early rice aid.
All fishing is banned in hilsa sanctuaries including the Padma and Meghna in Chandpur from midnight on 28 February to 30 April to protect jatka.
Temporary bamboo barriers built across the Padma at Sadarpur in Faridpur are being used to catch hundreds of maunds of jatka, young hilsa, every day.
FisheriesBeyond bhapa, bhuna and jhol, hilsa can be cooked into a tangy, spicy pickle with mustard oil, mustard paste, vinegar and panch phoron to eat with hot rice. The ingredients, the steps and how to store it safely.
Two and a half tonnes of jatka, young hilsa, worth about Tk 9 lakh were seized from a refrigerated covered van on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway and given to an orphanage.
Fisheries and livestock adviser Farida Akhter said a study has found microplastics, lead and cadmium in hilsa.
The traditional Jor Machh Mela, at least 200 years old, has again been held at Manohar Bazar in Shariatpur, where visitors buy a pair of hilsa and aubergines at the start of Magh.
AgribusinessCustoms at Benapole land port said they found Indian hilsa in a consignment declared as freshwater fish on the night of 13 January 2026 and seized it; customs put the hilsa's market value at about Tk 30 lakh.
FisheriesIn mid-January 2026, traders at Chandpur's Baro Station ghat, one of the country's main hilsa landing centres, said daily supply had fallen below 20 maunds against 150 to 200 in past years, while a one-kilogram hilsa sold for Tk 4,000 to Tk 4,500 and buyers left without buying.
The Buragauranga river in coastal Patuakhali is the centre of livelihoods, farming and culture for people along its banks, but it now faces erosion, encroachment and silting.
A mobile court in Sitakunda has fined a fish trader Tk 5,000 for selling jatka, the young hilsa, and seized 6 kg of fish.
