Anisul Islam Noor :
Though Hilsa becomes an element of celebrating Pohela Boishakh, the government has extended the ban of catching Hilsa to two months (March and April) this year.
Consumption for Hilsa increases 20 times during the Boishakh festival marking the Bengali New Year’s Day which is celebrated on April 14 every year.
The peak growing periods for Hilsa is between March and June while March-April period is a critical time for Jatka (baby Hilsa having length below 23 centimetres), sources said.
Earlier, the ban was hardly for one month in the corresponding period of previous years.
Supporting of the government’s initiative social leaders and cultural personalities have said, consuming only Hilsa fish on Pohela Boishakh is not a part of our culture.
Many traders and corporate culture are usually behind the promotion of this culture during the festival to make windfall profits, they said.
The people, who started this, have ignored the ecology matter, said Cultural Expert and Ecologist Pavel Partho.
“As far as I could learn savouring Hilsa dish on this particular day only started from the end of the last century,” he said.
Director General of the Department of Fisheries Arif Azad said the Department is working to supply Hilsa across the year. There is no relation of the delicious fish with Pohela Boishakh, he said. The peak growing periods for Hilsa is between March and June while March-April period is a critical time for Jatka (baby Hilsa having length below 23 centimetres), he said.
Zahid Habib, an official at the Hilsa Division of the DoF said the annual catch of Hilsa from rivers and sea stands at above 0.395 million tonnes of which more than 40 per cent are consumed during March-April period.
He said Hilsa catch could be doubled in next few years if we could control Jatka fishing in March-June period. Banning period has been increased to protect Jatka and raise Hilsa production, he said. The sea points like Cox’s Bazar and Barisal are out of the fishing embargo, he said.
The Hilsa sanctuaries, covering area of 350 kilometres across Chandpur, Lakshmipur, Bhola, Patuakhali and Shariatpur districts are under the fishing ban.
The DoF provides 0.238 million fishermen with 40 kilogrammes (kg) of rice each during the banning period.
However, the supply of Hilsa was much lesser for last few weeks with its higher prices in the markets.
President of Bangladesh Fish Traders Association Md Golam Mortuza said it is now a puzzle for us as the government imposes ban when demand rises by 20 times.
He said traders in Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong and Barisal are now storing Hilsa to release those for sale during the Beishakh festival to make windfall profits.
Md Mizanur Rahman, Proprietor of Sea Foods Ltd, the country’s first online-based sea-food supplier told journalists that prices of Hilsa is now hovering between Tk 600 and Tk 700 per kg (medium) and Tk 1200 and Tk 1400 (big) a kg in Chittagong.
