Two-hour fish market sells crores of Taka daily

A two-hour fish market at Harta in Wazirpur of Barishal has become the destination for wholesale buyers as it offers only freshwater species of fishes and daily sales there go up to Tk 3 crore.

Fish traders there said the increased demand for freshwater and indigenous species of fish among the consumers to the vibrancy of the market where wholesale traders and fishermen crowd every day.

Fishermen bring maunds of freshly caught fish from different areas of Sandhya and Sugandha rivers and hundreds of beels in Kotalipara of Gopalganj and Wazirpur, Agailjhara, and Banaripara of Barishal to this market for the past 20 years.

Md Sayem Biswas, general secretary of Harta Aratdar Malik Samity, told The Business Post that there is no retail sale at the market and wholesale buyers from many areas including major cities like the capital, nearby districts Jessore, Faridpur, Madaripur, Shariatpur, Barishal crowd the market to meet the consumers’ demand for fresh, high quality, freshwater natives variety fishes.

A spot visit to the area by The Business Post found that several hundred fishermen and over 700 workers are working in the 20 wholesale fish selling shades at the market.

The market sits between 4:00pm to 6:00pm every day and the daily sales go up to Tk 2 to Tk 3 crore, said Sayem Biswas.

The indigenous varieties of freshwater fishes such as Shing, Shol, Taki, Magur, Phali, and Punti are available in the market in abundance.

The traders said they sell each maund of Rui and Katla for Tk 6,000 to Tk 8,000, Tilapia for Tk 4,000, Silver Carp sells for Tk 3,200 to Tk 4,200, Pangasius for Tk Tk 3,000 to Tk 4,200, Brigade Carp sells for Tk 5,000 to Tk 5,500, Shrimp for Tk 30,000 to Tk 36,000.

“The market is providing livelihood opportunities to hundreds of families of adjacent areas who are involved in the fish trade in various manners,” said Dr Haren Chandra Roy, chairman of Harta Union Parishad.

“Now around 500 to 700 maunds of fish are being sold daily in the market and it will increase to 6,000 to 7,000 maunds in the next 15 days when the beels would dry up,” said Md Ayub Ali, a worker in the fish market.

Md Aynal, a fisherman of Satla, told The Business Post that they had faced a massive loss during the Covid-19 pandemic, and now they are trying to recoup their losses with the ease of Covid-induced restrictions.

Lokman Hossain, a fisherman of Manirampur in Jessore, said, “The demand for the Barishal’s freshwater fish has always been high in the country. That is why we come to the Barishal’s Harta fish market to buy fish and distribute it across the country.”

Md Mainul Islam, the owner of a local ice plant, said that seeing the growing fish market and its high returns, more and more people are gradually becoming interested in the fish trade.

“We never had to close our ice plant as we get huge orders for supplying ice to the market round the clock,” he said.

Shimul Rani Pal, Wazirpur Upazila Fisheries Officer, told The Business Post that this market is the most important wholesale fish market in the southern region.

“As it is situated in the middle of Gopalganj, Kotalipara, Madaripur and Barisal riverine areas, it is easy to bring fish in trawlers. For this, the importance of this market is increasing day by day,” said Md Asadujjaman, Barishal District Fisheries Officer.