Bangladesh and India should better coordinate the timing of their annual bans on catching hilsa, a fish central to both nations’ diet and culture, to prevent cross-border poaching and protect spawning stocks, officials and experts say.
Bangladesh currently enforces a 22-day hilsa fishing ban beginning four days before the full moon of the Bengali month Ashwin, which typically falls in late September and early October. The timing aligns with the fish’s lunar-based spawning cycle. India, by contrast, sets its restrictions using fixed calendar dates, which often fall earlier or later than Bangladesh’s closure period.
Fisheries Adviser Farida Akhter said Bangladesh “will not repeat India’s mistakes,” noting that hilsa spawn according to lunar phases, not calendar dates. She said Bangladesh’s approach, based on research by the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute and consultation with fishermen, has yielded stronger protection for mother hilsa and higher catches later in the year.
Hilsa is regarded as the national fish of Bangladesh and a cherished delicacy in eastern India, linking shared river ecosystems and culinary traditions. Coordinated bans, Akhter said, would curb illegal fishing across borders and help sustain a species vital to both countries’ heritage and economy.