Crying for Hilsa

Arindam Sarkar

With the onset of monsoon and the peak season of the silver crop around the corner, all eyes are riveted towards the porous Indo-Bangla border. Bengal’s fish importers and connoisseurs are hoping that despite Bangladesh’s ban, as in the last three years, Hilsa of River Padma would be clandestinely smuggled into Bengal.

However, Bengal is keeping its finger crossed because in the last three years smuggling of Hilsa from Bangladesh has gradually reduced. “In 2012, the year Hilsa was banned, around 1,200 metric tonne was smuggled into Bengal. But in 2013 and 2014, only 600 metric tonne of Hilsa found its way through the porous Indo-Bangla border illegally,” said Secretary of West Bengal Fish Importers Association Syed Anwar Maqsood.

Bangladesh banned Hilsa in 2012 during the month of Ramadan on the grounds that they were not able to meet the domestic demand. But in due course it took a political colour. In 2014, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that Dhaka would not export Hilsa to Bengal unless the Indo-Bangla Teesta Water Sharing Treaty was signed.

It is learnt that before the banning of Hilsa, West Bengal Fish Importers Association imported 6,000 metric tonne of Hilsa from Bangladesh. “As the demand for Bangladesh Hilsa was increasing, our import also increased. Bangladesh Hilsa is sold in Bengal at Rs 1,200 per kg,” said Syed Anwar Maqsood.

The banning gave rise to smuggling of Hilsa. In the last three years, trucks loaded with tonnes of Hilsa entered Bengal from porous borders at Benapole and Lalgola. The smuggling of Hilsa through the porous border takes place during the peak catch season stretching from July to December.

“With the tightening of border vigilance and Bangladesh determined not to give Hilsa until and unless Teesta treaty is signed, we don’t know how much Hilsa could be smuggled into Bengal in 2015,” said Syed Anwar Maqsood.

According to Processing Manager of BENFISH Sushanta Kumar Mondol: “This year during Jamai Shasthi, we were told that we would get 500 kg of Bangladesh Hilsa for our mobile catering service. But we got nothing.”  

With supply from Bangladesh almost zero, people are satisfying themselves with the Hilsa from Myanmar, Diamond Harbour, Raidighi, Mumbai, Gujarat and Odisha. “Our domestic Hilsa catch every season is around 6,000 metric tonne. But even the domestic catch is falling over the years,” rued Syed Anwar Maqsood.

Apparently, the migration of Hilsa from Bay of Bengal to other places, pollution of coastal water, excessive trawling, catching of small Hilsas are all affecting the domestic production of the silver crop. Debabrata Khuntia, who specializes in fishing Hilsa in Bay of Bengal, said that 10 years back the fishermen used to catch not less than 30 tonnes of fish in a single fish-landing center in coastal Bengal. But today they catch only 5 tonne of Hilsa during the three-month season.

With the rise in domestic consumption in Bengal, the banning of the silver crop by Bangladesh and the fall in border smuggling is worrying both the fish importers and the Hilsa fanatics.