After a six-year ban, Bangladesh has lifted exports of hilsa fish to India and Middle Eastern nations, citing lost revenue from illegal exports.
Bangladesh Fisheries and Livestock Minister Narayon Chandra Chanda said that the ban appeared to be futile and that lifting it will check smuggling and allow the country to earn revenue from exports, the Financial Express reported.
“But now our hilsa production has increased and there is demand in the international market, so we want to move towards exports,” Chandra Chanda told the newspaper.
Bangladesh’s Ministry of Commerce had banned the export of hilsa on 1 August, 2012, due to its low availability. It has launched a campaign to protect hilsa, but the resources kept on dwindling further, so in 2012, it imposed a ban for an indefinite period.
The minister said despite the ban, hilsa were being smuggled out of the country, and as a result, the government is losing out in taxes.
“If we allow exports, it will open the way for legal trade and diminish smuggling significantly,” he said.
The minister said that the country will continue its conservation campaign, particularly to protect the female hilsa.
Hilsa from Bangladesh accounts for 75 percent of the world’s yield of the species and represents 11 percent of the total fish production in the South Asian country. Its contribution in the country’s gross domestic product is around 1 percent. The country filed to have hilsa named as a geographical indication product in 2017.
Hilsa has earned a reputation for having a unique and sought-after taste, and its roe is considered a delicacy akin to sturgeon caviar.
Hilsa fish have a habitat ranging from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of China, and individual hilsa travel up to 1,300 kilometers through the Bay of Bengal during their mating season.
