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Lift Hilsa export ban to avoid fish smuggling

Barisal traders urge govt

Our Correspondent, Barisal
Hilsa traders of Barisal division have called for lifting the export ban on Hilsa immediately to avoid smuggling of the fish and causing loss of export market and damages to investors.
The government banned export of sweet water fishes and Hilsa from Bangladesh on August 1 to reduce fish prices in local markets.
The traders said the export ban was applicable only for sweet water and frozen fishes and they could not find any reason of the discriminatory decision, which exempted frozen shrimp from the ban and imposed it on Hilsa which was mostly netted in the Bay and exported as a nonfrozen item.
Bangladesh Fish Exporters Importers Association and Barisal District Fish Wholesalers Association made the demand at a joint press conference at Ilish Bhaban in Barisal Port Road area on Thursday.
The export ban has not worked properly, as Hilsa is not adequately available in local markets during this peak season, the association leaders said. Neither the fish's price fell enough to the purchasing capacity of retail consumers, they added.
Prices of commodities like Hilsa depend on demand, supply, investment, costing, profit, and consumers' purchasing capacity, and ignoring these factors, only slapping an export ban cannot bring any sustainable solution to control Hilsa prices in local markets other than losing export earnings, they said.
Consumers of Bangladeshi Hilsa want non-frozen Hilsa having a fresh taste, and there is no fish processing unit in the Hilsa catching zone, the traders said, adding that there are not enough ice factories and cold storages either to preserve the netted Hilsa for long time marketing.
The 300 Hilsa trading houses across Barisal have invested huge money and a ban on export for the interests of local markets and local consumers' failure to
buy the fish would inflict losses on the investors, they added.
According to the businessmen, more than 300 firms export 3,000-4,000 tonnes of Hilsa annually, earning about Tk 250 core. This export earning has been contributing an average of 8 percent revenue to the government for the last two years, they said.
The Hilsa season usually starts and ends in monsoon from June to October, but due to climate change, the rainy season now starts late and ends early, seriously affecting Hilsa catching, they said. Hilsa catching also depends on current in the rivers and sea and rainfall, among others.
The businessmen said the ban came when a delayed Hilsa season only started and fishermen were netting a good quantity of Hilsa in the sea. It will only affect the 2 lakh people connected with Hilsa trading, they said.
This would have no positive impacts on local markets other than increasing the chances of smuggling of Hilsa and loosing the export markets in India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China, they said.
AKM Nur Muhammad, manager of Barisal Matsya Obotoron Kendra of Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation, said Hilsa exporting activities had been suspended at the centre since August 1 and was yet to receive any order to resume the activities.
Last year about 3,000 tonnes of Hilsa was exported through this centre but this year only 60 tonnes of Hilsa has been exported so far, he added.
HILSA 'SMUGGLERS' HELD
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) arrested two fish traders along with eight maunds of Hilsa in Lawjani area of Jessore sadar upazila yesterday, reports our Benapole correspondent.
The consignment of the fish was about to be smuggled to India. The arrested were Shahinur Rahman and Taju Biswas of Lebutala area of the sadar upazila.