Business Desk :
Prices of Hilsa fish, the national delicacy, increased in the city kitchen markets even during this peak fishing season.
Medium- to big-sized Hilsa was selling at Tk 950-1,600 a kg in the city retail markets -10-12 per cent hike further in a week.
Supply of small-sized Hilsa, even ‘jatka’ (baby Hilsa below 9.0 inches of length whose – its fishing to marketing is illegal), increased notably but was selling at Tk 600-800 a kg.
Traders said low catch in the rivers had been causing such a hike in Hilsa prices.
The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) data showed that prices of the most sold fish went up by 10-12 per cent further during this peak season in a week. The period between July and September is the peak fishing season for Hilsa.
Gafur Sarker, a fish vendor at Dhanmondi-15 in the city, said that Hilsa prices had been increasing despite the beginning of fishing in the sea from July 24, after a 65-day fishing ban.
He said low catch, especially in the river sanctuaries, was triggering the high prices. Gafur said most of the wholesale markets were collecting Hilsa from Cox’s Bazar and other sea markets.
Anwar Hossain, a Mawa fish market based trader in Munshiganj, said that both Mawa and Chandpur fish markets had been selling Hilsa from Cox’s Bazar, amid comparatively low catch in the Padma and Meghna rivers.
He said medium- to big-sized Hilsa was selling at Tk 44,000-48,000 a maund or 40 kg in Mawa and Chandpur.
On the other hand, the small-sized fish is being sold at Tk 18,000-19,000 a maund.
Chandpur Fisheries Traders Cooperative Association president Abdul Bari Jamadar said supply of Hilsa from the river was very low until last week. He said most of the traders were bringing Hilsa from Chattogram and Barishal regions to keep a good supply of the fish.
He expected a rise in river catch in a few days, with increasing rainfall across the river sanctuaries.
Cox’s Bazar Fishing Boat Owners Association president Mujibur Rahman said fishermen could hardly go to the sea between the last week of July and the first week of August.
He said fishing had started in full swing from the second week of this month and sea fishermen were making a good catch.
Mr Rahman said prices were also handsome amid high demand from Chattogram, Dhaka and other regions.
Fishermen are getting big-sized fish (above 900 gram) while a fish weighing 900 gram to 1,100 gram is being sold at Tk 1,000-1,300, he added.
However, according to the Department of Fisheries, Hilsa production was 0.53 million tonnes in the last financial year, while the target has been set at 0.575 million tonnes for the current fiscal year.
Hilsa comprises 11-12 per cent of total fish the country produces and its contribution to the national GDP is above 1.0 per cent.
