Bangladesh’s hilsa production is contracting sharply under the combined pressure of climate change and human activity. The national haul has shrunk by 12.49 percent over two years, a loss exceeding 71,000 tonnes.
Two decades of steady growth culminated in a record harvest of more than 571,000 tonnes in the 2022–23 fiscal year. Output has since fallen for two consecutive years, falling to 500,000 tonnes in the most recent fiscal year. Experts and researchers attribute the decline to a cluster of factors: adverse climate effects, excessive and illegal fishing, degradation of sanctuaries and spawning grounds, the use of fine-mesh nets (locally known as current nets), riverine char formation, pollution, and a mismatch between Bangladesh and its neighbours in enforcing banned fishing periods at sea. They argue, however, that production can rebound if authorities adopt necessary measures.
The fisheries department data show a production of 295,000 tonnes in FY 2007–08. Catches climbed each year thereafter, peaking at 571,342 tonnes in FY 2022–23. The two years that followed reversed the trend. Output dropped 7.33 percent to 529,487 tonnes in FY 2023–24 and fell a further 12.49 percent to 500,000 tonnes in 2024–25.
The department identifies several primary drivers. Its list includes climate change, illegal fishing, the destruction of protected habitats and breeding sites, a proliferation of jellyfish, the historical disparity in fishing-ban periods between India and Bangladesh, natural calamities and pollution. It also suspects genetic alteration may be at work. The average length of the fish over recent years has contracted; hilsa that are caught now are found to be physically smaller, and their reduced size directly depresses total weight.
Md Abul Kalam Azad, who holds current charge as deputy director of the fisheries department’s hilsa resource management branch, told Bonik Barta that submerged shoals have multiplied at river mouths and estuarine areas. “This has obstructed migration routes. Reduced navigability and climate-induced shocks have also weighed heavily on hilsa output,” he said.
Barisal and Chattogram divisions account for the bulk of the national hilsa catch. A comparison of FY 2022–23 and FY 2023–24 shows Barisal’s haul contracted by 23,509 tonnes. All six districts within the division recorded declines. Bhola suffered the steepest drop at 11,320 tonnes, followed by Barguna with 5,913 tonnes and Patuakhali with 4,455 tonnes. Chattogram division lost 16,711 tonnes over the same period, with Chattogram district losing 5,884 tonnes, Cox’s Bazar 3,696, Noakhali 3,171, Chandpur 2,581 and Lakshmipur 1,317.
Dr Hadiuzzaman, Barisal’s district fisheries officer, said newly formed river chars prevent juvenile hilsa from reaching the sea. Smaller fish consequently are netted before they can mature. A simultaneous drop in supply from marine waters has deepened the crisis, he said.
Abdur Rahman, a fisherman from the district, said: “There are effectively no hilsa in the river now. If this continues, Barisal will one day lose its hilsa entirely.” He demanded effective measures to curb pollution and halt the spread of submerged shoals.
Jahangir Hawladar, a local wholesale fish trader, said: “Last year we saw 200 maunds a day (1 maund is roughly 37.32 kg). This year we aren’t even seeing 20 maunds. This has created shortage during Boishakh.”
Fishermen report that the Padma and Meghna rivers are no longer yielding expected volumes of hilsa, and catches are thinning by the day. Researchers note that rising temperatures in the Bay of Bengal are altering the fish’s migratory routes. Char formation at the Meghna estuary has reduced navigability and obstructed normal movement. Indiscriminate harvesting of females carrying eggs and juveniles, the use of fine-mesh current nets and the destruction of food chains and habitat by industrial waste, plastics and pesticides, and increasing salinity in rivers and coastal zones are together depressing output.
Dr Anisur Rahman, a hilsa researcher and former chief scientific officer of the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute’s Riverine Station, said: “Chars are shifting river courses. Vessel traffic pollutes the water without restraint. Agricultural runoff from riverside cropland adds further contamination.”
He added: “The scarcity of hilsa in the Chandpur area is now unsurprising. Pollution in the Buriganga and Shitalakkhya rivers, combined with chars and submerged shoals in the Padma and Meghna, are creating persistent obstacles. We simply net hilsa from the rivers and consume them. We’re doing nothing to ease their passage.”
Allegations persist of rampant catch of juveniles and broodstock. Fisheries scientists observe that the fishing fleet has expanded in recent years. Many large trawlers now illegally operate in shallow waters. When deep-water hauls fail, crews compensate by scooping up undersized fish in the shallows — a practice that further undercuts sustainable yield.
Dr Aminul Islam, chief scientific officer at the Chandpur Riverine Station, told Bonik Barta: “Protecting hilsa spawning, conserving juveniles and expanding overall production require a concerted push on public awareness and collective effort. Government directives alone are insufficient; they must be paired with social discipline and assured alternative income streams for fishing communities.”
Experts and fisheries scientists say pollution and man-made disasters have been compounded by a lengthy mismatch in the banned fishing periods observed by Bangladesh, India and Myanmar — the three nations that harvest hilsa from the Bay of Bengal. Until 2024, the gap between the Bangladeshi and Indian bans stood at 39 days. Bangladesh lifted its prohibition on July 23, whereas India ended its own on June 15. Consequently, Indian vessels continued to fish while Bangladeshi waters remained off-limits, a discrepancy that has impaired hilsa breeding. From 2025, however, the three countries have agreed to declare their banned periods in closer alignment.
Professor Dr Md Yeamin Hossain of the fisheries department at Rajshahi University, who has long studied the species, told Bonik Barta: “Several major factors lie behind the decline. Rivers lose navigability, which strips away all current during the breeding season. That obstructs movement from the sea into the rivers. There’s also the failure of the administration to enforce the ban on catching juvenile and mother hilsa effectively.”
He added that while the three neighbouring countries launched a joint initiative last year to synchronise their sea-based fishing ban, river-specific coordination has yet to materialise. “When fishing is banned in the Padma inside Bangladesh, Indian fishermen are still catching hilsa. Mother fish are caught, and that hits production.”
Turning to the recent output slump, he said: “Hilsa live for five years. In 2021 and 2022, the coastal belt saw heavy rainfall, which led to an unusually large catch. That depleted the stock of large hilsa in the rivers. The fish now being landed are considerably smaller than those of the past five or six years. The hilsa cycle shifts every five years. Production may recover toward the end of 2027 and into 2028.”
Pollution from Dhaka’s Buriganga River travels via the Shitalakkhya into the Meghna, a migratory corridor for hilsa. Professor Dr Niamul Naser of the zoology department at the University of Dhaka told Bonik Barta that worsening contamination has reduced fish movement there. “When oxygen levels drop because of pollution, any fish will shift its habitat. Likewise, when hilsa encounter polluted conditions in the Padma or Meghna, they simply stop coming to those areas to spawn.”
He added: “The country’s rivers are not only polluted but also their flow has been destroyed. Hilsa can no longer penetrate inland as they once did. The government must prioritise dredging. The condition of the Padma River in Rajshahi is especially poor. Dredging there could be expected to boost hilsa production.”
The fisheries department is implementing a five-year project intended to raise hilsa production. Launched in July 2021 at a cost of BDT 2.29 billion, the Hilsa Resource Development and Management Project concludes next June. Its remit includes enforcing conservation law to protect mother and juvenile hilsa, boosting output through sanctuary management, creating alternative livelihoods for 30,000 households that rely on catching those fish, distributing nets and building public awareness through information campaigns. Yet the catch has fallen over the past two fiscal years even as the project has run its course.
Project Director Mollah Emdadullah told Bonik Barta: “Production from all natural stocks is shrinking. The rivers have no water. How can fish arrive? More than 250 chars have emerged in the Meghna–Tetulia river alone. These block movement from the sea into the rivers and the return journey. Hilsa can’t enter the rivers to spawn during the season.”
He added that the number of fishermen has grown in recent years and that many large trawlers now operate illegally in shallow water. Migration routes, breeding grounds and nursery areas face steady degradation. Pollution has worsened. Meanwhile, the size of landed hilsa has decreased. Five years ago the average fish weighed between 500 and 550 grams. That figure has now dropped to 300 to 350 grams. “The main reason is that juvenile hilsa can’t reach the sea,” Emdadullah said. “Submerged chars and overfishing prevent them from making that journey. And if they can’t reach the sea, their growth stalls.” He noted that the decline in individual size would likely cut production measured by weight.
Contacted last night, Md Delwar Hossain, secretary of the fisheries and livestock ministry, said he was away from official engagements and lacked the necessary data to comment on the trend.