Barisal markets were seen overflowing with ilish of all sizes as the 22-day day ban on netting the fish was lifted on Friday. However, after visiting wholesale fish markets, it was observed that the price of ilish have dropped significantly, and many traders stopped selling.
Nasir Uddin, assistant director of the divisional fisheries office, said during the ban period from October 12 to Thursday, a total of 784 cases have been filed by 1,018 mobile courts in a total of 2,837 raids.
During this time 808 fishermen were jailed for different periods and 16.12 metric tons of ilish and over 520 million meters of nets were seized. Apart from that, a total of Tk15.38 lakh was realized as fine.
After visiting Barisal Port Road wholesale market on Friday, it was seen that at least 1,000 ilish-carrying trawlers have reached the Barishal market from Bhola and Mehendiganj.
The fishermen of the market said that the price of the fish has decreased due to its huge supply.
One of the wholesalers at the market, Yunus Sikder, claimed that the ilish were caught after the ban was lifted.
However, Abdullah Khan, one of the customers at the wholesale market, said as most of the fish were iced, they may have been caught before the ban was still going on.
Selim Bepari, who came from Mehendiganj with 50 tons of ilish on a trawler, said that he bought the fish from the fishermen at the rate of Tk400-450 per kg early Friday. However, he said, he was not making much profit.
Ilish weighing above 700-900 grams were being sold at Tk1100-1200 per kg and ilish weighing 500-600 grams were being sold at Tk900 per kg.
Similarly, ilish weighing below 500 grams are being sold at 300-400 taka per kg.
Nirob Hossain Tutul, secretary of the Barisal Ilish Traders Owners’ Association, said that the price of the fish was almost two times higher during the ban period.