Fishermen in the coastal areas in Bangladesh started to reap the benefits of a 65-day fishing ban as they have been returning home with trawlers full of ilish right before Eid and Pohela Boishakh.
A single trawler that went on fishing into the deep sea has caught 130 mounds of Illish at the Kuakata coast under Kalapara upazila of the Bay of Bengal.
On Saturday morning, a fisherman named Surjo Majhi alone brought 130 maunds of Illish at the Alipur coastal fish market in Kalaparaupazila for sale.
He said: “These fish were caught in his nets overnight on Friday, about 60km off the coast of Kuakata. The fisherman informed that the market value of these Illish is estimated to be around Tk40,00,000.
On early Thursday, Surjo Majhi set off from Alipur for the Bay of Bengal with 17 fishermen aboard a trawler named Allar Doya-1. After going to sea and deploying our nets, we found so many fish in our nets."
“Later, as our trawler was fully loaded, we collected half of the fish from the nets and left the rest in the sea. The fish are now being auctioned at the Alipur coastal fish market,” he said.
Apu Saha, the senior fisheries officer of Kalapara upazila, said: “Illish have been frequently appearing in fishermen's nets for some time. We are hoping that with the onset of rains, fishermen’s nets will be flooded with Illish among various other species of fish.”
