High price of Hilsha being investigated
Our Correspondent, Barisal
A high power investigation team of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock visited Barisal and Bhola to find out the cause of high price and scarcity of Hilsha fish in the ongoing season.The three-member team was led by the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock Deputy secretary Md Imran. The other members were Bangladesh Fishing Development Corporation (BFDC) manager Abu Sayed and Directorate of Fisheries deputy chief Joarder Shibendra Nath. The team visited the two districts following publication of reports in newspapers about high price of Hilsa in Bangladesh and comparatively lower price in India. Bangladesh is the main Hilsa exporting country to India. During the visit on Saturday, the team talked with Hilsha fish merchants including whole sellers, retailers, exporters and importers, fishermen and fishing and livestock ministry and directorate officials before their visit to BFDC Fish Loading and Unloading Centre here. While talking to local journalists, they said that they would also visit Cox's Bazar. On their return to Dhaka, they would submit a report to the ministry about their findings today, they said. The government would monitor the whole system of Hilsha fishing including breeding, catching, demand in local in market and amount of export and checking smuggling, the team sources said. Nur Muhammed, manager of Barisal BFDC Fish Loading and Unloading Centre said a guideline on Hilsha fishing, marketing and exporting policy will be prepared on the basis the findings of the team. As many as 4,15,000 kilograms of Hilsha fish were exported to India through this centre within a week since June 26. If one fourth of those was sold at local markets then the price in internal markets would have been decreased, he said.
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