Fisher Niranjan Halder's net brought up a 17 kg and an 8 kg pangas at the Padma confluence near Mojlishpur, Goalanda; the Daulatdia trader who bought them is bargaining to sell the big one to a Dhaka buyer at Tk 2,300 a kilo.
EnvironmentA day after cracks appeared near Sureshwar fish market in Naria, Shariatpur, about 20 metres of the three-year-old Padma bank-protection embankment slid into the river on Thursday evening.
The crack appeared before dawn on Wednesday at the Sureshwar fish landing in Shariatpur; the UNO and Water Development Board officials have inspected the site.
FisheriesAhead of the 8-29 October hilsa fishing ban, some 1,500 seasonal fishers on the Padma-Jamuna chars of Shibalaya, Manikganj are openly preparing boats and nets, and banned current nets are on sale in Aricha bazaar.
Hilsa are scarce in the Shariatpur stretch of the Padma even at the height of the season; fishers and the district fisheries office blame shoals, silt and shifting currents, leaving about 5,000 fishermen uncertain of their income.
Native fish catches from the Padma in Rajshahi fell from 2,283 tonnes to 1,620 tonnes in five years as the river's flow and depth declined; the Rajshahi division's hilsa catch dropped to 473 tonnes.
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.
Chittagong University research points to estuary plankton and the fat it builds; only about 2 per cent of Bangladesh's hilsa comes directly from the Padma, while most of the big, flavoursome fish are caught in the Meghna basin.
The Padma has dropped about 15cm in three days at Daulatpur in Kushtia, yet some 50,000 people remain marooned and more than 1,000 hectares of crops have been damaged.
The Padma is running 74cm below danger level at Pabna, while 206 hectares of crops are under water in Chapainawabganj and 1,050 hectares in Daulatpur, Kushtia.
Homes, fields, schools and mosques face the rivers in Alfadanga, Sadar, Sadarpur, Charbhadrasan and Bhanga; the Water Development Board promises geo-bags within two days while residents demand a permanent embankment.
FisheriesA 2 kg hilsa netted in the Padma at Daulatdia in Goalanda, Rajbari, sold for Tk 9,200 on 7 July 2026 to a Tangail man who lives in Saudi Arabia, a local fish trader said.
