Dinajpur traders earn from fish scale exports

The traders in Fulbari upazila of Dinajpur profit from exporting fish scales.

According to sources, discarded fish scales are collected from fishmongers and exported to Japan, China and Indonesia.

About 1.5-2 maunds of fish scales are collected on an average daily from various markets of the upazila and then dried and prepared for exportation.

In Asian countries like Japan, China, Indonesia, Korea and Thailand fish scales are used to make high-quality cosmetics, food supplements, capsule pods and other products.

Fulbari upazila fish trader Abdul Jabbar Ali said most of the buyers get the fish cut and processed at the market after buying big fish to avoid the hassle.

Scales were thrown away after cleaning off the fish as waste. However, traders have recently found that these scales can also be sold as an additional income source.

There are about 40-50 traders in the upazila who buy the scales from the different fish markets. They take the collected scales to be cleaned and dried under the sun. Exporters from Nilphamari, Naogaon and Rajshahi buy the processed products from these traders.

Soumen Roy, another fish trader from the upazila, said previously fish scales were only exported from some areas in Naogaon, Rajshahi, Dhaka and Chattogram, but the trade has expanded on a small scale in Fulbari upazila also.

“Before the pandemic, scales were sold for Tk 100-120 per kg but now it has gone down to Tk 50-60 per kg. This is an industry with immense potential and with government support and patronage it can expand further,” he said, adding that this business has helped many previously unemployed people become self-sufficient.

Hasinur, a fish scale trader of Fulbari, said they do not have the opportunity to directly export the products, so they sell them to exporters.

“If we could export it directly we would have made better profits. Many small-scale traders like me involved in this business are hoping to expand our trade,” he said. Hasinur further added that loans on easy terms from the government will help them in this regard.

A wholesale fish trader of the upazila municipal fish market, Saker Ali said the fish traders of the market were encouraged in the beginning to not throw away the discarded scales. After the trade gained tract, fish traders now freeze the scales to make sure they stay fresh in hopes of making some extra profit from selling them.

Fish scale collectors Md Sombaru, Rezaul Alam and Mozaffar Hossain of Nilphamari’s Syedpur upazila said they collect, clean and then dry fish scales in the sun. After four to five maunds are gathered, the scales are then packed and sold to the exporters.

Upazila Fisheries Officer Rasheda Akhter said she was not aware of any such trade.

“We will look into the matter and take necessary steps as per needed,” she said.