Why Bangladesh imports mangoes despite being a top producer

Sukanta Halder and Ahmed Deepto



Bangladesh ranks seventh among the world’s mango-producing nations, growing 24-26 lakh tonnes annually for a domestic market worth Tk 13,000 to Tk 14,000 crore.

Yet, the country regularly imports mangoes to meet growing year-round demand from the higher-income consumers.

The imported mangoes remain a fixture at fruit shops across kitchen markets and superstores in Gulshan, Banani, Baitul Mukarram, Dhanmondi, and Uttara -- catering mainly to high-income buyers willing to pay premium prices year-round.

However, traders say demand for imported varieties drops sharply during the local mango season as Bangladeshi mangoes remain unmatched in taste.

According to Bangladesh Bank data, mango imports stood at 38.3 tonnes in fiscal year 2020-21 (FY21), rising sharply to 1,343 tonnes in FY22, before falling to 141 tonnes in FY23, 15.29 tonnes in FY24, and just 4.87 tonnes in FY25. Imports rebounded to 37.05 tonnes during the July-May period of the recently concluded FY26.

Bangladesh has imported mangoes from Thailand, Egypt, India, Kenya, the Netherlands, Myanmar, the UK, and Australia, among other countries. However, in FY26, imports came only from Thailand, India, and a handful of other countries.

Md Abdul Manik, a mango importer, told The Daily Star that import volumes were higher in previous years because costs were lower. Duty then stood at around Tk 45 per kg and airfare at Tk 70 to Tk 80 per kg.

At present, he said duty has increased to around Tk 500 per kg, and airfare has risen to around Tk 300 per kg, which has reduced import volumes because customers cannot afford the higher prices.

By comparison, he said, countries including Thailand, the UAE, and other Middle Eastern nations impose food import taxes of only around 5 percent.

The importer argued that lower taxes in Bangladesh would make fruits like grapes, apples, and maltas more affordable.

As it stands, he said, only a small segment of higher-income consumers can afford imported mangoes, with demand driven mainly by sweetness. Thai Sweet Mango remains the most sought-after variety.

Mohammad Limon, sales representative of Unimart’s Gulshan-2 branch, said demand for foreign mangoes falls once the local season begins and imports are scaled back accordingly, picking up again once the season ends.

Varieties such as Australia’s R2E2, India’s Katimon, Thailand’s Banana Mango, along with a few others, are in higher demand, he said. Besides these, mangoes are also imported from the Netherlands.

R2E2 is sold at Tk 1,500 to Tk 1,600 per kg, while Katimon is sold at Tk 250 per kg. Although these mangoes are in demand throughout the year, demand is higher during the month of Ramadan, according to Limon.

Demand for all varieties peaks during Ramadan, he added.

Kabir Hossain, a fruit seller at Gulshan-2 kitchen market, said Thailand’s Jamboo, Cherry Mango, and Sweet Mango are in high demand. Jamboo is sold at Tk 1,400 per kg, Cherry at Tk 1,400 to Tk 1,500 per kg, and Sweet Mango at Tk 1,200 per kg.

The buyers of imported mangoes are mainly big businessmen and salaried professionals. About 200 to 300 kg of mangoes are sold per week, he told the reporter.

Md Sorof Uddin, chief scientific officer at the Regional Horticulture Research Centre in Chapainawabganj, said, “Imported mangoes help meet consumer demand during the domestic off-season, but they cannot match the taste and quality of Bangladeshi mangoes.”

He said consumers often purchase imported mangoes because local varieties are unavailable, prioritising availability over flavour.​

For the agriculture sector, the challenge is not just money but where it goes

AHM Saiful Islam


‘Despite its declining share of GDP, agriculture remains the backbone of Bangladesh’s economy.’ FILE PHOTO: MOSTAFA SHABUJ

The FY2026-27 national budget identifies agriculture as one of its 10 strategic priorities. The budget outlines an ambitious vision to transform it into a key driver of national prosperity by developing a self-reliant, climate-resilient, and technology-driven modern agricultural system.

Accordingly, agriculture and its related sectors (ARS), including livestock, environment, land, and water resources, have been allocated Tk 46,821 crore (60 percent for operating and 40 percent development expenditure), a nominal 2.3 percent increase over the revised FY2025-26 budget. However, agriculture’s share of the total national budget has declined to 5 percent, reaching its lowest level in the past 14 years.

Despite its declining share of GDP, agriculture remains the backbone of Bangladesh’s economy; it is central to food and nutrition security, rural livelihoods, employment and poverty reduction. The sector has achieved self-sufficiency in rice and fish, made notable progress in livestock, fruits, and vegetables, and demonstrated resilience during the Covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. However, it continues to face rising input costs, post-harvest losses, price volatility, climate shocks, weak market access, slow mechanisation, poor agro-processing and market linkages, shrinking farmland, declining soil fertility, increasing pest and disease pressures, and climate change. These challenges are further compounded by sluggish productivity growth, limited crop diversification, slow technology adoption, and weak institutional coordination.

Agricultural diversification

Bangladesh’s agri-food system and consumer demand are shifting towards higher-value foods, yet rice still occupies about 72 percent of the country’s cultivated area. Because agricultural subsidies are largely universal, rice farmers receive most government support. A recent World Bank (WB) study estimates that rice farmers receive nearly 80 percent of subsidy benefits, reinforcing a structural bias against diversification despite growing demand for fruits, vegetables, fish, livestock products, and processed foods. Therefore, the issue is not only the size of the agriculture budget but also its composition and efficient use. The WB also found that the largest 20 percent of farmers capture about half of all fertiliser subsidies, while the bottom 40 percent receive only 15 percent. Moreover, excessive use of fertilisers, particularly nitrogen, and pesticides has reduced productivity and increased environmental costs. Although this year’s subsidy allocation remains unchanged, the agriculture ministry’s development budget has increased by 96.5 percent, providing an opportunity to reorient spending.

Rather than maintaining universal subsidies, greater emphasis should be placed on targeted, pro-poor support and investments that promote diversification, including mechanisation, efficient irrigation such as solar-powered systems, alternative wetting and drying (AWD), livestock and aquaculture innovations, non-crop agricultural insurance, soil testing, AI-based advisory services, and climate-smart agricultural practices. Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) data and the WB report show that consumer demand is steadily shifting from cereals to higher-value products. Yet the FY2026-27 budget keeps unchanged allocations for the livestock and fisheries sector, which is inconsistent with a demand-driven diversification strategy, despite some positive tariff measures for feed inputs.The composition of the agriculture budget, therefore, deserves careful reconsideration.

Export promotion and import substitution

Despite significant gains in agricultural production over the past two decades, Bangladesh remains dependent on imports, while agricultural exports are still limited. To diversify its export basket and reduce import dependence, policies should be guided by evidence of comparative advantage and address key constraints, including food safety and quality standards, inadequate infrastructure, and tariff and non-tariff barriers. However, the agriculture budget gives limited attention beyond some tariff measures and investments in pack houses and quarantine laboratories. Imposition of import duties on cashew nuts and Pangas fish fillets is, nevertheless, a positive step that could encourage domestic production and import substitution.

Mechanisation

Bangladesh is no longer an agricultural labour-abundant country, with acute labour shortages during transplanting and harvesting seasons. Addressing these challenges requires greater investment in scale-appropriate mechanisation to improve labour productivity. While mechanisation has largely focused on rice cultivation, particularly tillage, pesticide application, and threshing, greater emphasis is needed on transplanting, weeding, harvesting, and mechanisation for non-rice crops, livestock, and fisheries. However, the budget gives limited attention to this priority beyond mentioning mechanisation under the Farmer Card programme. Although it includes loan waivers and low-interest agricultural credit, these facilities should be redesigned to better meet the needs of agro-entrepreneurs through demand-driven loan amounts, repayment terms, and supportive credit policies.

Research and development

Data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the WB show that agricultural growth, particularly rice productivity, has slowed, threatening progress in poverty reduction, and food and nutrition security. At the same time, agriculture faces increasing climate-related and other biotic and abiotic stresses, including floods, droughts, cyclones, and salinity intrusion. Addressing these challenges requires greater investment in agricultural education, research, extension, and technological, institutional and policy innovations, particularly in developing high-yielding, climate-resilient crop, livestock, and fish varieties. Reforming the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) through merit-based recruitment, promotion, and incentives is equally important.

Greater investment is also required to modernise extension services through ICT-enabled platforms and AI-driven climate advisory systems. Research evidence indicates that limited financial as well as non-financial incentives, like recognition by the district director, significantly improve the service delivery of government agricultural extension agents. Although Bangladesh has developed over 150 rice varieties, only a few older varieties dominate farmers’ fields, reflecting weak extension and dissemination. Integrating climate advisory into extension services, strengthening extension staff capacity, and investing in digital public infrastructure that provides real-time, location-specific recommendations on inputs, weather, and market prices are increasingly essential. Despite these pressing needs, the FY2026-27 budget provides limited emphasis on agricultural research, extension, and digital climate advisory systems.

Agricultural marketing

The FY2026-27 budget continues to emphasise agricultural production over marketing, despite farmers’ persistent inability to receive fair prices, particularly during harvest seasons. Although the budget speech highlights reducing the role of intermediaries and developing modern marketing and cold-chain infrastructure, apart from a cold storage facility for mango in the Barind region and upgrading quarantine laboratories, there is no clear allocation for modern markets and cold-chain facilities for perishable products.

The Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) should be strengthened with adequate manpower and development funding, while its warehouse receipt programme should be expanded nationwide to include non-cereal crops as well. More importantly, the government food grain procurement programme should function as an effective price support mechanism through direct procurement from farmers rather than intermediaries and millers. In this regard, the West Bengal government’s digital paddy procurement system, known as e-Paddy, is often referred to as one of the successful examples. The planned digital procurement of 41.29 lakh metric tonnes of food grains through the Krishoker App is a welcome initiative. However, its success will depend on effective implementation, improving farmers’ digital literacy, and addressing long-standing concerns over moisture-content requirements.

Coordination and policy coherence

Agriculture in Bangladesh is a multi-sectoral field involving numerous ministries and agencies. Therefore, the success of the FY2026-27 budget will depend on how effectively these institutions coordinate and utilise public resources. Building a resilient agri-food system requires stronger institutional collaboration, policy coherence, and better linkages among agricultural education, research, and extension (ERE) to accelerate technology generation, adoption, and diffusion. Bangladesh can draw lessons from successful models such as Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in the Netherlands, which integrates education, research, and extension.

Agricultural policies should also be reoriented to support fiscal sustainability, food and nutrition security, and climate resilience. We often see the gap between promises and delivery, which highlights the need for governance to shift from process to performance. Ultimately, the effectiveness of the budget will depend on implementation. If budget allocation, especially the development budget, is executed efficiently, resources are well targeted, and farmers receive timely and equitable support and information, the budget can promote innovation, improve productivity, strengthen food security, and enhance climate resilience. Otherwise, many of its intended objectives may remain unrealised.

Prof Dr AHM Saiful Islam is an agricultural economist and professor at Department of Agricultural Economics in Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh.​

Agricultural, construction workers may lose 24 working days a year due to heatwaves, study finds



Climate-driven heatwaves are set to slash working hours, erode incomes and drive up healthcare costs across Bangladesh, a new study warns.

Informal workers are likely to bear the brunt of the impact, it says.

In a report released on Sunday, German-based climate, environment, and development research institute Adelphi Global said Bangladesh's informal sector workers are likely to suffer the greatest impact from worsening heatwaves.

It found that the country's extensive informal labour market, high medical expenses, and limited social protection are intensifying the economic impact of extreme heat.

By 2030, workers in the agricultural and construction sectors of Bangladesh may lose an average of 23.75 working days a year due to heat, the study found.

Currently, the rate of lost working hours in these sectors is 6.28 percent, which could rise to 9.58 percent by 2030.

The study estimates that lost working hours across all sectors will increase from 4.24 percent to 4.84 percent, with informal workers facing the greatest hardship due to the absence of sick leave, health insurance, and income protection.

The report titled “Heat, Health, and the Increasing Costs of Living: A Call for Action” was published by Adelphi Global on its website, according to a statement by the organisation.

Citing the report, it said Bangladesh has been identified among the most vulnerable countries in terms of the economic impact of heatwaves.

The study, conducted in Bangladesh, Brazil, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Nigeria and South Africa, analysed how climate change-induced heatwaves simultaneously reduce people's income and increase the cost of living.

The report says Bangladesh’s healthcare costs are increasingly falling on households, which paid 79.3 percent of total health spending in 2023 -- one of the highest shares among the countries studied.

Private health expenditure per capita has surged more than 830 percent since 2000 and is likely to rise further as heat-related illnesses increase.

It also warns that most of the country will be at high to very high risk of heatwaves between 2020 and 2039, with temperatures above 30°C for as many as 239 days a year and productivity losses of up to 50 percent in some industries during heatwaves.

Adelphi Global notes that almost all women working in the agricultural sector in Bangladesh are informally employed, and the rates of which are also high in other heat-risk sectors, including construction.

As a result, if working hours are reduced due to illness, these workers’ income also decreases.

In 2024, the potential loss of income in Bangladesh due to reduced working hours and productivity due to extreme heatwaves was about $24 billion, equivalent to about 5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

The report also says increased electricity demand and frequent power outages during heatwaves further increase the heat risk in workplaces, factories, and residential areas.

In this situation, the climate organisation calls for an integrated consideration of climate adaptation, public health, and labour policy.

The report recommends strengthening public health systems to reduce reliance on private health spending, expanding social protection and labour rights for workers affected by heatwaves, including heat and health risks in national adaptation plans, and increasing climate finance for health and worker protection.​

Cotton cultivation holds strong potential in Bangladesh; coordinated action, incentives needed
Staff Correspondent
Dhaka
Published: 01 Aug 2026, 23: 12


Courtesy

Experts have called for coordinated action to expand cotton cultivation in Bangladesh, highlighting its potential as a climate-adaptive and economically viable crop.

They noted that although Bangladesh is the world's second-largest exporter of ready-made garments, around 97 per cent of the cotton used by the country's textile industry is imported, costing the country more than USD 3 billion annually.

These observations were made at the National Dialogue on Cotton: Its Future Opportunities as a Climate Adaptive Crop, organised by BRAC's Climate and Environmental Innovation Programme (CEIP) at the BRAC Centre in Mohakhali, Dhaka, 30 July 2026, said a press release.

The dialogue examined the structural barriers to expanding domestic cotton production and explored practical measures relating to policy, research, financing, agricultural extension services, market development, and post-harvest management.

Speaking at the event, Md Rezaul Amin, Executive Director (Routine Duties) of the Cotton Development Board, said that cotton is a beneficial crop from multiple perspectives. In addition to increasing farmers' incomes, cotton cultivation can contribute to climate change adaptation and generate employment opportunities across the value chain. He added that the government is providing incentives to encourage farmers to cultivate cotton.

Md Liakath Ali, Director of BRAC's Climate and Environmental Innovation Programme (CEIP) and Disaster Risk Management Programme (DRMP), said that cotton offers a promising alternative in areas where agricultural production has been affected by climate change.

He emphasised that expanding cotton cultivation across the country would require close collaboration among government agencies, the private sector, development organisations, and other stakeholders.

M Farid Uddin, Senior Agronomic Adviser/Consultant at CottonConnect South Asia Private Limited and former Executive Director of the Cotton Development Board, said that Bangladesh currently cultivates cotton on approximately 45,000 hectares of land, producing an estimated 200,000 bales annually (each bale weighing 220 kilograms), meeting only around 2 per cent of national demand.

He also noted that cotton is a carbon-positive crop and that the government officially declared cotton an agricultural commodity one year ago.

Among those attending the event was Mitali Chakma, a cotton farmer from Manikchhari in Rangamati. She said, "I received seeds and training from the Cotton Development Board. I have been cultivating cotton for the past three years.

There is considerable interest in cotton cultivation among farmers. With the necessary support, cotton cultivation can expand significantly across the Chattogram Hill Tracts."

Participants observed that the challenges facing cotton production extend beyond cultivation itself. Cotton competes with rice, tobacco, and high-value winter vegetables for agricultural land.

Harvesting remains largely manual, while farmers continue to face constraints in accessing finance, agricultural inputs, extension services, storage facilities, ginning services, and reliable markets.

The discussion also highlighted the significant potential for cotton cultivation in climate-vulnerable regions, including the Barind Tract, coastal saline areas, riverine chars, and the Chattogram Hill Tracts.

As a heat- and drought-tolerant crop, cotton requires less water than rice, making it a suitable option for climate adaptation and livelihood diversification. Participants also noted that replacing tobacco cultivation with cotton in selected regions could provide farmers with a more sustainable alternative.

The dialogue opened with remarks by Abu Sadat Moniruzzaman Khan, Programme Head, Climate and Environmental Innovation Programme (CEIP), BRAC.

Other speakers included Abed Chaudhury, Independent Agro-specialist; Md Kutub Uddin, Deputy Director (HQ), Cotton Development Board; Md. Manirul Islam, Additional Director (Cash Crop), Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE); and Prof. Mohammad Kamrul Hasan, Professor (Department of Agroforestry), Bangladesh Agricultural University.

Representatives from Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC), Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Bank Asia, Primark, WeGro, and other organisations also participated in the dialogue.​

Why Bangladesh, a global top producer, still imports fish

Sukanta Halder



By most measures, Bangladesh is one of the planet’s great fish-producing nations. It ranks second in the world for fish caught in rivers, lakes and wetlands, and fifth for farmed fish production, according to a June 2026 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The country’s production now exceeds 50 lakh tonnes, surpassing the annual demand for around 48.93 lakh tonnes, according to the Department of Fisheries (DoF) data.

Yet, government data shows that the country regularly imports thousands of tonnes of fish every year.

The reasons, according to government officials and importers, come down to variety. Some fish Bangladeshis want to eat aren’t available domestically in enough supply, or at all. Imports are needed to meet the demand of the processing industry, hotels and restaurants, and specialised markets.

WHAT COMES, HOW, AND FROM WHERE

Around 288 companies are currently registered to import fish and fish products into the country, according to DoF data.

The agency reports that Bangladesh imported 56,000 tonnes of fish, worth Tk 521 crore in fiscal year 2025-26. In the previous FY25, the figure stood at 55,000 tonnes worth Tk 475 crore. The amount was 71,000 tonnes, worth Tk 660 crore, in FY24, and 57,000 tonnes, worth Tk 406 crore, in FY23.

The fish importers bring in most often include rui, pangas, rupchanda, tuna, shad, mullet, dorab, and mackerel, along with dried fish like loitta and puti.

Most of it, 86 percent last fiscal year, arrives frozen – deeply chilled below -18°C, halting decay and extending shelf life for months. The rest comes chilled or on ice – kept just above freezing at 0°C-4°C using melting ice, offering superior texture for short-term use.

DoF data show that the main countries selling fish to Bangladesh are China, India, Myanmar, Japan, Oman, Pakistan, the UAE, South Korea, and Thailand.

WHY IMPORT

Importer Md Saheed Ali brings in a wide mix, marine fish – hilsa, rui, katla, Indian mackerel, horse mackerel, tuna, catfish, and chandana hilsa – from Yemen, Oman, Dubai, China, Pakistan, Myanmar, and India.

He also imports certain types of Hilsa, known locally as ruposhi or lafa, from as far as Uruguay.

Saheed’s customers are spread across the country. He said that some of the imported fish, including loitta, sell well mainly because they’re cheaper, which matters a lot to middle and lower-income families.

He stated that imports fill a real gap in what’s available domestically right now.

Another importer, Mohammad Rakibul Islam Rokon, brings in rui, katla, bhetki, and hilsa from India and Myanmar. He sells to markets across Dhaka, where demand for these fish stays high and steady.

The imports help meet the growing demand for these popular fish varieties among residents and ensure a steady supply in local markets, he said.

Hotels and restaurants are a major buyer of imported fish. A review of menus at several of Dhaka’s international hotels and Western-style seafood restaurants shows a similar reliance on imports.

A menu of Pan Pacific Sonargaon’s Jharna Grill, obtained from the hotel’s website, shows the pattern explicitly. The restaurant’s own menu copy describes its “Pacific-inspired cuisine” as built on ingredients including “Vietnamese prawns, Canadian salmon and Singapore crab.” Its seafood section features a Norwegian salmon steak, alongside a separate “Imported Steaks” section for its meat offerings.

The Westin Dhaka’s Seasonal Tastes restaurant ran a seafood festival in April and May this year built around “Authentic Chilled Norwegian Salmon,” alongside seafood paella and terrine.

An official of the luxury hotel,seeking anonymity, told The Daily Star, that demand runs high for imported seafood: chilled salmon, smoked salmon, tuna fillets, Chilean sea bass, and pangas fillets.

The hotel goes through about 2,300 kilogrammes of imported fish every month, he added.

A Sheraton Dhaka official, who also asked not to be named, said the hotel has a similar level of demand for imported sea fish, with consumption of approximately the same quantity each month.

Md Barkatul Alam, who oversees fish inspection and quality control at DoF, told The Daily Star that Bangladesh doesn’t need to import to survive, since it already produces enough, but imports help fill specific gaps in the market.

He noted that imports help meet demand for particular species and products and support different segments of the domestic market and fish-based industries.

NEED BETTER REGULATORY OVERSIGHT

The DoF official, however, stressed that a stricter regulatory oversight is needed to ensure the quality of imports.

“As the sources and types of imported fish and fishery products diversify, it is important to continuously strengthen our regulatory system so that only safe, quality and fit-for-human-consumption products enter the domestic market,” Barkatul said.

Stating that Bangladesh already has an administrative and institutional system for controlling fish imports, he said there is scope to make it more integrated and more science-based.

The objective, he said, should be to protect consumers while also ensuring fair trade and safeguarding the interests of domestic fish producers and responsible businesses.

Right now, regulatory oversight mostly comprises issuing no-objection certificates or conducting a limited number of tests, he said.

The system should cover the entire control chain, from assessment of exporting countries and establishments, pre-import verification and health certificate verification to risk-based border inspection, laboratory testing, traceability and post-clearance surveillance, he added.

The DoF official also suggested lining up Bangladesh’s rules with global trade standards, specifically the World Trade Organization’s food-safety agreement, which requires decisions to be based on science, not guesswork.

The Fish and Fish Products (Inspection and Quality Control) Rules, the Import Policy Order and other relevant regulatory and administrative arrangements should also be updated and strengthened where necessary, he said.​

Beyond the gains in fish production

The National Fisheries Week 2026 is being observed across the country from August 16 to 30 with the theme "A self-sufficient country through silver fish, Bangladesh first." Bangladesh has indeed made remarkable strides in fish production over the years and is now recognised as one of the world's leading fish-producing countries. According to a June 2026 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Bangladesh ranks second globally in fish caught from rivers, lakes and wetlands, and fifth in farmed fish production. These achievements are undoubtedly a source of pride and have made the fisheries sector an increasingly important contributor to the country's food security and economy.

According to the Bangladesh Economic Survey 2025, total fish production rose to 5.255 million tonnes in the 2024-25 fiscal year, exceeding the national annual demand of around 5 million tonnes. The growth in production has also led to higher consumption, with daily per capita fish consumption increasing to between 62.7 and 67.8 grams, surpassing the recommended requirement of 60 grams. This is a significant achievement for a country where fish has long been a staple source of animal protein and an integral part of the national diet.

However, behind this impressive growth lies a worrying reality: the abundance of fish in the market does not necessarily mean an abundance of the fish that Bangladeshis have traditionally cherished generation after generation. Most fish varieties available in the market come from aquaculture, and many farmed varieties do not taste as good as open-water native fish. Indigenous fishes that once tickled the taste buds of Bengalis across all social classes are becoming increasingly difficult to find. Reports suggest that, of the 266 freshwater fish species assessed in Bangladesh, 64 fall into various threatened categories. This means that more than 25 per cent of the country's freshwater fish species are at risk of extinction. In fact, some native fish species have become so critically diminished that future generations may never see them firsthand or may only come to know of them from the pages of books.

The decline in indigenous freshwater fish is being attributed to climate change, shrinking habitats, overfishing and widespread use of pesticides in agriculture. At the same time, some destructive fishing practices are responsible for the depletion of the country's native fish resources.

One of the most pervasive and damaging methods is the use of the banned China Duari Jaal, a multi-chambered fishing trap designed with numerous openings through which fish can enter, but its fine mesh and narrow interstices does not allow even small fish fry to escape. Thus the net indiscriminately entraps fish of all sizes as well as other aquatic creatures. The China 'current' net is another form of destructive fishing net that the authorities have failed to effectively check, despite periodic drive and monitoring.

Another destructive fishing method that appears to be on the rise is electric fishing, or electrofishing. In this method, electricity is passed through the water using makeshift equipment to stun or kill fish within a certain area. The practice not only kills fish but also destroys eggs, fry and juvenile fish, as well as other aquatic species. Worse still, in some areas, including the Sundarbans, some fishermen are resorting to poison fishing, in which certain types of poison are spread in rivers. Through these predatory fishing tactics, a section of short-sighted fishermen are not only depleting fish resources by killing even the fry but also wreaking havoc on the entire aquatic ecosystem.

The use of China Duari Jaal, current nets and electrofishing is banned under the Protection and Conservation of Fish Act. Under the Act, manufacturing, carrying, marketing or using China Duari Jaal for fishing, as well as catching fish through electric shock, are punishable offences. However, reports of their widespread use continue to pour in from different parts of the country. The authorities appear to have treated the imposition of bans as an end in itself, while failing to prevent the import, sale, local production and distribution of such destructive fishing gear. In fact, such nets are readily available online. This blatant gap between regulation and enforcement must be addressed urgently.

For more effective enforcement of the law, stakeholders argue that officials of the Department of Fisheries should be empowered to conduct drives against illegal fishing. Currently, Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNOs) are authorised to conduct such drives. However, as UNOs remain occupied with a wide range of administrative responsibilities, they can hardly conduct regular drives against illegal fishing. The Department of Fisheries, which is directly responsible for protecting the country's fish resources, should therefore be given the necessary authority to enforce the law effectively. At the same time, fishermen should be encouraged to adopt sustainable fishing practices, while greater public awareness can help curb destructive fishing. If local communities understand the long-term damage caused by indiscriminate fishing and actively resist such practices, social pressure can make it harder for illegal methods to continue.

Therefore, the Fisheries Week should be more than an occasion to celebrate the country's achievements in fish production. Alongside increasing production, greater emphasis must be placed on protecting natural breeding grounds, restoring aquatic habitats and conserving indigenous fish species. Fish production and conservation are not competing objectives; sustainable fisheries require both.​