Hilsa fish is abundantly available in the local market of the district these days. The fish netting vessels are having a bumper catch of the fish this season in the last three months, mainly in the month of August.
The hilsa fish size of one kilogram which was generally available at the rate of Rs 1,200- Rs 1,500 kg per kg is available at the rate of Rs 600- Rs 800 now. The fish size of 500 gm and below which was available at rate Rs 500-Rs 600 has dipped to Rs 300- Rs 200 per kg.
Sources said the fish catch is about 46 per cent more than in the corresponding period in the previous year. Between June and August last year, the hilsa catch quantity, aggregating all seven fishing bases of the Baleswar district, while was estimated to 448 million metric ton (MMT) , this year the figure reached about 658 MMT in this period .
According to an estimation, last year yield (with 448MT catch ) while was Rs 224 crore (by selling average Rs 500 per kg) yet in this year despite substantial growth in the catch (658MT) , the revenue earned is about Rs 179.5 crore . The dip of revenue is due to sell of hilsa at the rate of Rs 300 per kg.
In the terms of the volume of the catch while the revenue could have been over Rs 132 crore, yet due to several factors neither the fishermen nor the middlemen traders could reap the benefit.
Sources claimed that due to lack of adequate infrastructure, including storing and transporting, the traders sold the fish in much cheaper rate in the local market.
Some vessel owners even disposed their catches in much cheaper rates in the fish landing bases of Bengal near Odisha owing to instant payment facility.
The district while doesn’t have cold storage for storing fish, frequent power cuts with low quality power have become impediments to the ice factories. The ice factories couldn’t meet the demand of the market.
The experts in the fishing sectors observed that the bumper catch of hilsa was witnessed after a gap of about 10-12 years. This phenomenon is probably due to strong cyclonic storms in some other parts forcing them to migrate in large numbers.