Hilsa egg release falls 10-12 percent despite 22-day ban, raising fears over breeding

Despite a 22-day ban to protect mother hilsa, the fish did not release eggs at the expected rate. In the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute's preliminary observation, the egg-release rate of mother hilsa this year was found to be about 40 percent, which is 10 to 12 percent lower than in the last three years.

Indiscriminate hilsa catching during the ban, a lack of surveillance and poor coordination are seen by those concerned as among the main reasons for the decline, which has raised concern over hilsa breeding success. Fishers and traders fear the effect could fall on next season's production and on the hilsa market, and questions have also been raised about the 22-day ban programme itself.

Tayefa Ahmed, chief scientific officer of the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute's Riverine Centre in Chandpur, told Ajker Patrika that she herself went out on the river for four to five days. Her team observed mother hilsa until November 2 in Chandpur, Ilisha in Bhola, Monpura and Hatiya.

According to Tayefa Ahmed, their preliminary research found the egg-release tendency of mother hilsa at 30 percent in some places, 35 percent in others, and a maximum of 40 percent. They found that of five hilsa caught in nets, three carried eggs.

On October 8, the first day of the ban, despite bad weather, casting nets in Chandpur Sadar they found that of two hilsa caught, one was male and the other female. Taking the caught mother hilsa into account, they estimate that about 40 percent of mother hilsa may have released eggs this year.

By comparison, during last year's 22-day hilsa conservation drive, the breeding success rate of mother hilsa across the country was 49.27 percent. The year before that, the egg-release capacity was 52 percent, and in 2023 it was 52.2 percent. In other words, the rate has been falling for several years in a row.

Mahfuzur Rahman, fisheries officer of Meghna-surrounded Hizla upazila, said the egg-release tendency of mother hilsa has decreased this year. He said hilsa could not be conserved as much this year and not all quarters concerned cooperated. Besides, the absence of a project for mother hilsa conservation created a financial crisis.

Mahfuzur Rahman said: 'If it had been said from the highest level of government that no one could go down into the Meghna, could anyone have caught fish?' He believes what is actually needed is political will.

After the ban ended, a visit to the Barishal Port Road fish market on October 30 found that medium-sized hilsa still carried eggs. After the ban, at Port Road and at major southern fish markets — Samraj Ghat in Charfashion, Bhola, and Mahipur and Alipur ghats in Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali — boats brought in hundreds of maunds of rotten hilsa. Videos of the rotten fish, caught during the ban period, went viral.

Over the incident, the Barishal fisheries department formed a three-member investigation committee. Its head, Md Anisuzzaman, senior assistant director of the fisheries department in Barishal, said: 'The investigation found proof of rotten hilsa being landed at those ghats. Because mother hilsa were killed indiscriminately in this way during the ban, the fish released fewer eggs in the rivers.'

Fish traders and fishers fear the effect may fall on the coming season. Nasir Uddin, a wholesaler at the Port Road hilsa market, said: 'Production of hilsa did not increase much after the ban. The fish still have eggs. If fish keep declining like this, the business may collapse.' Fishers of Hizla, Mehendiganj and the Kalabador river at Chandramohan share the same fear.

However, Kamrul Hasan, divisional director of the fisheries department in Barishal, said: 'Actually, the egg-release tendency has decreased because of climate change or the weather. The timing of the ban depends a great deal on this.'