Local kitchen and fish markets in Barishal were flooded with freshly caught hilsa on Saturday after a 22-day ban on netting the fish ended on October 28.

Despite adequate supplies, prices remained comparatively high.

In different markets, a hilsa weighing about a kilogram was sold for Tk 1,000-1,200 whereas a hilsa of 600 to 900 grams was sold for Tk 800-900.

Nirob Hossain Tutul, a wholesale hilsa trader, claimed that a fishing trawler came from Bhola carrying about 150 maunds of hilsa caught on Friday night.

Manjur Alam, a hilsa trader at Tulatuli ghat in Bhola district, said that he managed to sell hilsa, all caught from rivers, worth Tk70 lakh on the first day.

Alauddin Mia, a fisherman of Bhola Sadar, claimed that he netted thirty kilograms of hilsa from nearby rivers early Saturday.

Fajlu Gazi, a fish trader in Kuakata, informed that after midnight different fishing trawlers headed towards the sea and expected to return in a couple of days.

Anisur Rahman Talukdar, deputy director of the Barishal divisional fisheries office, said that 800 mounds of hilsa arrived at the Barishal Port Road hilsa market till Saturday noon.

‘Cyclone Sitrang created a suitable environment for the hilsa to lay eggs. We expect a greater yield than past year’s 51.8 per cent,’ he said. 

According to the divisional fisheries office, 861 mobile courts operated 2,994 drives and visited 5,411 wholesale and kitchen markets during the 22-day ban.

The mobile court sized 9.18 metric tons of hilsa, 57.84 lakh metres of net, lodged 879 cases, jailed 724 fishermen and realised Tk 14.29 lakh as fines and got Tk 17.07 lakh by selling seized hilsa.

A 22-day government ban on catching, selling, hoarding and transporting hilsa in Bangladesh started on October 7 to save mother hilsa during the peak breeding season.