Some Thoughts on Hilsa Exports and Management in Bangladesh

Kazi Toufique

Bangladesh Development Studies, 2015, vol. 38, issue 2, 115-127

Abstract: Hilsa is the largest single species fishery in Bangladesh. The Department of Fisheries (DoF) publishes estimate of annual Hilsa catch and has been the single source of information. In the absence of information from alternative sources, the reliability of catch figures could not be tested. This notes uses the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) data to estimate Hilsa catch for the last three survey years (2000, 2005 and 2010) and finds that Hilsa catch figures reported by the DoF is overestimated for all these years. BBS data is very reliable because it is nationally representative, consumption is recorded by making home visits over a period of 14 days and data collection is spread over a year so that seasonal variation in fish consumption is adjusted. Thus Bangladesh may not have enough Hilsa for exports, particularly to India. It is also argued that Hilsa population is already in stress and the fishery is overexploited and fish habitat is severely degraded. Rather than promoting exports the government should improve Hilsa management, control overfishing of Hilsa, halt degrading conditions of Hilsa fishing ground, intensify effort to reduce smuggling of Hilsa and improve the quality of data.

Keywords: Bangladesh; Fish; Hilsa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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