The prices of hilsa have gone up in the Barishal region, a hub of the national fish, amid news of the government鈥檚 recent approval to export the fish to India while the markets are flooded with hilsa fries, locally known as jatka.
The government has decided to allow exports of 1,200 tonnes of hilsa at $12 a kilogram (about Tk聽1,500) to India on the eve of Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Hindu community.
Although harvesting hilsa fries, measuring below 23鈥�25 centimetres in length, is illegal, traders said that for the past five to six days, markets have been flooded with jatka.
鈥業f 100 tonnes of fish are caught, 90 tonnes are jatka. If this continues, we may face a serious hilsa crisis in the next season,鈥� said a hilsa trader Kabir Hossain.
鈥楩ishermen are not getting hilsa, so they are catching jatka. People are buying jatka at Tk 500鈥�600 a kilogram,鈥� he added.
Local fish trader Salim Howladar added that hilsa fries were being caught in large numbers.
鈥業t seems that hilsa released eggs earlier this year than expected, which is why there are so many fries available,鈥� he said.
A recent visit to Barishal wholesale fish market on Port Road, the region鈥檚 largest hilsa trading hub, found prices climbing.
Mohammad Arif, manager of Shakil Enterprise, said that one mound (40 kilograms) of hilsa (weighing one kilogram each) was selling at Tk聽88,000 on Tuesday, up from Tk聽85,000 on Sunday.
Hilsa weighing 700鈥�800 grams rose from Tk聽73,000 a mound on Sunday to Tk聽76,000 a mound on Tuesday.
Traders predicted that once exports begin, hilsa prices could double.
Muhammad Hamiduddin from Bhola鈥檚 fish market said that repeated storms were halting trips to sea.
鈥楽ince fishermen rely on loans from moneylenders for capital, prices are not falling even in the peak season,鈥� he said.
According to the Barishal divisional fisheries office, hilsa production in July stood at 10,876 tonnes while 22,066 tonnes of hilsa were caught at 372 fish trading stations across the division on September 9 alone.
Shariful Islam, manager of the BFDC fish landing station, at Alipur in Patuakhali, said drives were under way to protect jatka.
Following a meeting of the advisory council on law and order at the secretariat in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday, home adviser retired Lieutenant General Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury told the media that the production of hilsa fish this season had decreased.
He asked the law enforcement agencies to be more vigilant to protect the hilsa fries.
