Plenty of pangas (silver catfish) and hilsa fishes are being caught in the rivers of the Barishal region.
Local sources said the ongoing government-imposed 65-day ban on fishing in the sea has created a severe fish shortage in Barishal. However, efforts are underway to overcome the crisis by fishing pangas and hilsa in the rivers.
According to the Department of Fisheries in Barishal, due to the effect of cyclone Remal, the water level in the rivers has increased and huge amounts of pangas and hilsa are seen.
Local fishermen are netting these fish on a large scale. They have caught the fish which are not usually available.
During a visit, our correspondent found that a large quantity of pangas around 60 maunds were caught and brought to the Barishal Port Road’s Fish Landing Centre in Barishal. Among these, there were pangas weighing 20 kg.
In addition, the supply of river hilsa has also increased. As a result, the prices of pangas and hilsa have decreased by Tk 300-400 per kg.
Traders said that they are trying to meet the demand of customers with pangas and hilsa.
Customers are showing more interest in buying pangas than hilsa because of the comparatively lower price of the pangas.
A jobholder named Afzal Hossain bought a pangas weighing more than 10 kg for Tk 6,000. He said that he did not expect to buy pangas at such a price at this time.
Alam Sardar, a fish trader at the Port Road in the city, said that after cyclone Remal more river pangas have been caught. So the supply has become higher than before.
The day when our correspondent was talking with this trader, there was a delivery of 50-60 maunds of pangas at the fish landing area in Port Road. The weight of Kirtankhola, Meghna River’s pangas is usually 5-20 kg.
He added that the price of pangas on May 30 was Tk 25,000 per maund of which per kg price was Tk 625-650. In the previous week, the same fish was sold for Tk 800-900 per kg. The price of pangas has decreased by an average of Tk 300-350 per kg.
Fish trader Harun-or-Rashid said that the supply of river hilsa has increased along with pangas. On May 30, a maund of LC size (600-900 gram) hilsa was sold at Tk 54,000 of which the price per kg hilsa was Tk 1,375. In the previous week, the same hilsa was sold for Tk 2,000 per kg. In addition, the 500-gram hilsa price is Tk 1,100 per kg.
He added that the price of hilsa has decreased by an average of Tk 300 per kg.
Khan Habib, president of the Barishal Sadar Thana Fish Traders Association, said that traders are happy as large river pangas were caught on May 30 after cyclone Remal. Some of these weighed 15-20 kg. The price is also within affordability. The price of hilsa has also come down in the past few days.
Bimal Chandra Das, a fisheries officer (hilsa) of the Barishal District Fisheries Department, said, “Due to the ban on fishing in the sea, we are now having to rely on river fish. Suddenly large river pangas are being caught. Pangas are found due to the increase in water level in the river due to cyclone Remal. The pangas season is winter. Getting so many pangas at this time is good news for the fishermen. The supply of hilsa is also increasing due to the same reason.”
