The government has extended Hilsa fishing ban to two months (March and April) to protect its fries. Earlier the ban was hardly for one month in the corresponding period of past years, said officials. The demand for Hilsa increases 20 times during the Baishakh festival marking Bengali New Year’s Day which is celebrated on April 14 every year. “Consuming only Hilsa fish on Pahela Baishakh is not a part of our culture”, said culture expert and ecologist Pavel Partho. “As far as I could learn, savouring Hilsa dish on this particular day only started from the end of the last century,” he said. “The people, who started this, were ignorant about ecology”, he said. The peak growing periods for Hilsa is March and June while March-April period is a critical time for Jatka (baby Hilsa having length below 23 centimetres), he said. Director General of the Department of Fisheries Arif Azad said the department is working to supply Hilsa across the year. He said the delicious fish has no relation with Pahela Baishakh. He said usually many traders promoted it during the festival to make windfall profits. Zahid Habib, an official at the Hilsa division of the DoF said the annual catch of Hilsa from rivers and sea stands at above 0.395 million tonnes of which more than 40 per cent are consumed during March-April period. He said Hilsa catch could be doubled in next few years if we could control Jatka fishing in March-June period. He said the banning period has been increased to protect Jatka and raise Hilsa production. However, sea points like Cox’s Bazar and Barisal are out of the fishing embargo, he said. The Hilsa sanctuaries, covering area of 350 kilomitres across Chandpur, Lakshmipur, Bhola, Patuakhali and Shariatpur districts are under the fishing ban. The DoF provides 0.238 million fishermen with 40 kilogrammes (kg) of rice each during the banning period. However, the supply of Hilsa was much lesser for last few weeks with its higher prices in the markets. President of Bangladesh Fish Traders Association Md Golam Mortuza said it is now a puzzle for us as the government imposes ban when demand rises by 20 times. He said traders in Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong and Barisal are now storing Hilsa to release those for sale during the Baishakh festival to make windfall profits. Md Mizanur Rahman, proprietor of Sea Foods Ltd, the country’s first online-based sea-food supplier, informed the FE that prices of Hilsa is now hovering between Tk 600-Tk 700 per kg (medium) and Tk 1200-Tk 1400 (big) a kg in Chittagong. He said pressure on sea Hilsa has increased following the government ban on fishing in sanctuaries.