The last six years have been good for hilsa fishing in the south of Bangladesh.

For six years, production has continuously increased in the region. Hilsa researchers, officials, and fishers attributed this success to the hard monitoring against jatka netting and various government programmes to conserve the species.

Barishal Divisional Fisheries Office sources said the production of hilsa has been gradually increasing for last six years.  According to the fisheries department, hilsa production in the division in 2014-15 was 2 lakh 53 thousand 161 tonnes. From there, it increased to 2 lakh 57 thousand 225 tonnes for 2015-2016. In 2016-2017 this rose to 3 lakh 24 thousand 298 tonnes, to 3 lakh 29 thousand 25 tonnes in 2017-2018 and stood at 3 lakh 41 thousand 119 tonnes in 2018-2019.

Divisional Fisheries Department officials said the stats for this year are even higher, although the numbers are yet to arrive.

According to the department, the production of hilsa in the country in 2018-19 was 5 lakh 15 thousand tonnes which has increased to 5 lakh 33 thousand tonnes in 2019-20.

At least sixty percent of hilsa produced in the country comes from the southern region, confirmed officials.

https://www.thedailystar.net/city/news/hilsa-production-the-rise-south-1945593