Our Correspondent
RAJSHAHI, Oct 28: Tonnes of matured egg carrying hilsa are being caught in the mighty Padma river near Godagari upazila of the district.
Soon after the withdrawal of ban on fishing on October 22, local fishermen went to the river with boats and nets. They were extremely happy with their catch. There was a significant catch with every drop of nets. They said they have not experienced so huge catch of hilsa during over the last 15 to 20 years. The wholesale hilsa traders who have set up temporary camps beside the river Padma from Bidirpur to Godagari also informed, they did not notice so huge catch of fish in the river for last two decades.
Not only in Godagari upazila but also in Indian side of the river Padma (Ganges) from Nimtita to Farakka point, thousands of Indian fishermen with mechanised boat and trawlers were catching huge quantity of hilsa fish, informed Ananda Bazaar Patrika, a leading daily of India. The newspaper reported, taking the opportunity of a ban of hilsa catching in Bangladeshi rivers, Indian fishermen caught more than 250 to 300 maunds of hilsa fish daily and they are still continuing those.
The railbazaar wholesale depot of fish in Godagari was seen full of thousands kgs of hilsa fish soon after the withdrawal of the ban.
Baset Ali, a wholesale fish trader informed, he purchased 50 maunds of hilsa from the local fishermen on Monday, 60 maunds each on Tuesday and Wednesday. The hilsa were from 900 grammes to 350 grammes in weight and all were filled with matured eggs. The price of hilsa was also low.
Rajib Hossain, another fish trader informed, though the ban on hilsa catching was imposed from October 01 to October 22 to enable the mother hilsa to release eggs, all the fish they were purchasing were carrying full, matured eggs. He said, one kg of hilsa weighing 200 to 250 gramme was being sold at Taka 200 to 250 while the same weighing 500 to 800 gramme was being sold at Taka 350 to 550 per kg.
Alongwith fish traders and wholesalers, a large number of local people were seen to throng various 'ghats' beside the river to purchase hilsa.
Muharram Ali, a fisherman of Matikata village said, he had been fishing in the river Padma for last 30 -year and for a long time he did not find so huge hilsa in the river. He informed, he alongwith three more fishermen caught 80 kilogrammes of hilsa in one night. " All the fish we caught were carrying matured eggs", he said, adding many fish which came to upstream of Padma to lay eggs failed to release eggs in due time and those were being caught by fishermen.
Abdul Bari, another fisherman of Premtali area informed, taking the opportunity of ban of catching hilsa, the fishermen in India were engaged in an orgy of catching those. From Nimtita to Farakka point of the river Padma (Ganges) in Indian side is full of hilsa now and Indian fishermen were catching those in huge quantity with trawlers and large fishing boats.
Shuvash Chandra Saha, District Fisheries Officer of Rajshahi informed, there will be no shortages of hilsa in the river Padma next year because one single mother hilsa releases 0.5 million to 2.0 million eggs. He added, unless a renewed order of banning mother hilsa with eggs is issued, the department has no ability to check the fishermen from catching mother fish with eggs.
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