With a hopeful delight, some 1,200 fishermen of Rajshahi went to the river Padma to catch Hilsha fish aftermath of the withdrawal of ban of catching Hilsa from November 5, but most of those fishermen returned disappointed getting no fish. Even, those who netted some were mostly fries.
“Such a situation I have been witnessing for the first time in my life,” informed Akram (55), a fisherman who has been catching fish in the river Padma for last 25-year.
“During the previous years, we used to catch a huge number of Hilsa during this season, some even with eggs. But, the Hilsa did not grow adult this year rather those are still at their fry stage and only scanty in number,” he added.
It is learnt, the government has imposed a ban on Hilsa catching from October14 to November4 to ease hatching of eggs and breeding of Hilsa in the sea and in rivers.
Soon after the withdrawal of the ban, fishermen landed in the river to catch fish with boats and nets. But they are disappointed without getting any Hilsa fish, especially any adult Hilsa.
Aynal Haque, General Secretary of Fishermen Association of Rajshahisaid they went to the river with boats and nets to catch Hilsa. But there was no Hilsa in the river rather which they catch were some Hilsa fries which has no demand or price in the market.
There is a scarcity of Hilsa in the river this season, but during the ban, Indian fishermen had entered into our water territory with boats and nets, caught Hilsa and took those away to India, though, they also caught those fries, he added.
Meanwhile, the aftermath of the ban, customers also thronged in the fish market to purchase Hilsa fish but they also returned disappointed without getting the Hilsa fish.
Zulfiqur Hossain, a customer at Shaheb Bazaar informed, he came to purchase Hilsa from the market but there was no supply of the fish there.
Shafiur Rahman, a fish trader at Sagorpara fish market informed, after the withdrawal of ban, no large-sized Hilsa appeared in the market. There were some fries only. Fishermen have informed, there was scanty of Hilsa in the river Padma this year.
Alok Kumar Saha, District Fisheries Officer of Rajshahi informed, he also observed a scanty of Hilsa stock in the river this year but he failed to remark about the cause of such decrease of Hilsa population in the river Padma this year.
