Bangladesh’s hilsa catch has fallen for the third year in a row — and the latest official figures show the slide is getting steeper, not gentler. Production of the country’s national fish dropped to 4.20 lakh tonnes in fiscal 2025-26, down from 5 lakh tonnes the year before and about 26% below the record peak of 5.71 lakh tonnes in FY23, according to data from the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock reported on 1 November 2026.
The fall was confirmed in parliament on 10 November 2026, when the fisheries minister told lawmakers that output had dropped from 5.67 lakh tonnes in FY2021-22 to an estimated 4.20 lakh tonnes in FY2025-26. Two different baselines, the same conclusion: the world’s largest hilsa-producing country is catching roughly a quarter less of its most prized fish than it did at the peak.
This is not a one-season blip. It is a three-year slide with no confirmed single cause — and researchers are now collecting field data through the fishing-ban season to find out what is changing in the rivers.
Bangladesh hilsa production: the numbers at a glance
| Fiscal year | Hilsa production (lakh tonnes) | Change vs previous year |
|---|---|---|
| FY2021-22 | 5.67 | — |
| FY2022-23 | 5.71 (record peak) | +0.7% |
| FY2023-24 | 5.29 | −7.4% |
| FY2024-25 | 5.00 | −5.5% |
| FY2025-26 | 4.20 | −16.0% |
Source: Bangladesh Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, as reported by The Business Standard (1 November 2026) and The Daily Star (10 November 2026). The FY2021-22 figure of 5.67 lakh tonnes is the minister’s parliament statement; the FY23 peak of 5.71 lakh tonnes is the ministry series reported by TBS. The two series agree on the FY2025-26 total of 4.20 lakh tonnes and on a decline of about 26%.
Two things stand out in the table. First, the decline is accelerating: the 16% drop in FY2025-26 is roughly three times the fall of the year before. Second, the country has lost about 1.51 lakh tonnes of annual production since the FY23 peak — fish that would have fed markets, filled export orders and supported fishing families across 38 districts.
Why the fall matters beyond the catch figures
Hilsa is not just another fish in Bangladesh. It is the national fish, the centrepiece of the monsoon table, and the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of fishing families. When the catch falls by a quarter, the effects ripple outward:
- Fishing families lose income. During the 22-day brood-hilsa ban in October 2026, the government had to distribute 16,192.25 tonnes of rice to 6,47,690 fishing families — 25 kg per family — under the vulnerable group feeding (VGF) programme, because those families had no fishing income for three weeks.
- Market prices rise. Fishers and traders in the Barishal region reported higher prices this season even as catches fell — good for those who still land fish, painful for consumers.
- Exports shrink. Despite low production this year, Bangladesh still exported around 1,200 tonnes of hilsa to India ahead of Durga Puja, a fraction of what a healthy fishery could supply.
- The breeding base is at risk. A falling catch of adults usually means fewer spawners — which is why the government protects both brood hilsa in October and juvenile jatka for eight months of the year.
What is driving the decline? No single answer yet
Researchers at the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) are candid: the cause is not yet pinned down, and field data is being collected now to find it. What they have identified so far points to several pressures acting together:
- Changing river geography. BFRI researchers have identified several submerged shoals in the estuary towards Bhola. These may be altering migration routes and making it harder for hilsa to enter rivers from the sea — a serious problem for a fish whose life cycle depends on moving between sea, estuary and river to breed.
- Declining navigability and siltation. Increasing siltation and shallowing of rivers may be forcing hilsa to change their migration routes, according to researchers at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University.
- Pollution. River pollution is degrading aquatic habitats, and changes in water pH — making it more acidic — could affect fish growth, egg production and hatching, University of Dhaka researchers have warned.
- Climate change and rising temperatures. Rising water temperatures are disrupting aquatic ecosystems, and natural disasters over the past two years may also have contributed to the decline.
- Illegal fishing. Fishing with banned nets such as behundi and China duari (monofilament) nets catches large quantities of juvenile hilsa, damaging reproduction for years to come. Enforcement during the October 2026 ban seized 580.439 lakh metres of illegal nets.
The honest position, stated by BFRI’s own scientists, is that the causes are still under investigation. Anyone claiming a single reason for the fall is guessing. What is certain is that seasonal fishing bans alone cannot fix it — stakeholders quoted in the Bangladeshi press stress the need to protect rivers and estuaries, curb illegal fishing and strengthen research-based fisheries management.
Barishal, the hilsa heartland, has been hit hardest
Barishal division — the rivers and estuaries around the Meghna and Tetulia — is the centre of the hilsa fishery, and its divisional figures show a steeper fall than the national average:
| Fiscal year | Barishal division hilsa production (tonnes) | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | 3,72,343 | — |
| 2023-24 | 3,48,834 | −6.3% |
| 2024-25 | 3,34,783 | −4.0% |
| 2025-26 | 2,66,597 | −20.4% |
Source: Barishal Divisional Fisheries Office / Department of Fisheries data, as reported by Daily Sun (28 September 2026) and The Daily Star (21 September 2026). These are division-level figures, not national totals.
Fishers in Barishal told reporters during the peak season that large hilsa had almost disappeared from their nets, and that most of what reached markets was smaller, sea-caught fish. At Alipur fish landing station in Patuakhali, only one tonne was landed on a Saturday in the peak season, with weekly landings of 2.5 tonnes — down from four tonnes a year earlier. Traders on Barishal’s Port Road said daily arrivals had fallen from 1,000–1,200 maunds to around 100–150 maunds.
The Bay of Bengal tells the same story
The decline is not confined to rivers. Commercial trawler catches in the Bay of Bengal have also fallen sharply, according to Department of Marine Fisheries statistics:
| Measure | FY2022-23 | FY2024-25 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total commercial fish catch, Bay of Bengal | 1,46,037 tonnes | 1,16,650 tonnes | −21% |
| Hilsa in commercial landings | 8,138 tonnes | 1,790 tonnes | −78% |
Source: Department of Marine Fisheries statistics, as reported by The Business Standard (8 October 2025). Figures cover commercial trawler landings only.
The 78% collapse in commercial hilsa landings is the starkest single number in this story — though officials caution that bad weather limited trawler operations in April–May, and that the commercial fleet is only one part of the fishery. Even so, it matches what river fishers are reporting: fewer fish, and smaller ones.
The 22-day ban: enforcement by the numbers
Every October, Bangladesh bans all hilsa fishing for 22 days to protect brood (mother) hilsa during peak breeding. The 2026 ban ran from 8 to 29 October, and the enforcement drive behind it was the largest on record:
| Enforcement measure (8–29 Oct 2026) | Figure |
|---|---|
| Mobile courts operated | 1,331 |
| Enforcement drives conducted | 6,909 |
| Cases filed | 1,621 |
| Fishermen sent to jail | 1,337 |
| Fines imposed | Tk 54.924 lakh |
| Illegal nets seized | 580.439 lakh metres |
| Rice distributed to fishing families (VGF) | 16,192.25 tonnes to 6,47,690 families (25 kg each, 38 districts) |
Source: Department of Fisheries release, via Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), 29 October 2026.
Officials called this year’s ban more successful than previous years, and fishers who complied were widely praised. But the scale of the enforcement — more than 1,300 fishermen jailed and nearly 6 crore metres of illegal net seized — also shows how much illegal fishing the ban is fighting against.
What happens next: the 2026-27 protection calendar
| Measure | Dates | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Jatka (juvenile hilsa) ban | 1 November 2026 – 30 June 2027 | Catching, selling, storing or transporting jatka up to 25 cm is prohibited for 8 months. Does not apply to large hilsa or other fish. |
| Brood-hilsa ban | October (annual, 22 days) | All hilsa catching, transporting, storing, marketing, buying and selling is prohibited during peak breeding. The 2026 ban ran 8–29 October. |
| BFRI field research | Ongoing through the ban period | River data collection to identify causes of the decline and any new obstructions on migration routes. |
The jatka ban that began on 1 November 2026 is the longer and arguably more important of the two protections: eight months in which no juvenile hilsa under 25 cm may be caught, sold, stored or transported. Every jatka that survives to adulthood is a future spawner — and with adult numbers falling, protecting juveniles is the cheapest recovery measure available.
How to read these numbers: 5 things to watch
- Watch the FY2026-27 total, due in mid-2027. One more annual fall would make it four in a row; a stabilisation would be the first sign the bans and research are working.
- Watch the jatka ban enforcement. The 8-month ban only works if the nets stay out of the water. The October drive seized 580 lakh metres of illegal nets — the jatka season will test whether that enforcement continues.
- Watch BFRI’s findings. Researchers are gathering river data during the ban period to determine the causes and check for new obstructions on migration routes. Their report will decide whether the fix is dredging, pollution control, or something else entirely.
- Watch Barishal, not just the national total. The division produces the bulk of the catch; its 20% fall in FY2025-26 is the clearest early-warning signal in the data.
- Watch prices at the landing centres. Fishers reported higher prices this season despite lower catches. If prices keep rising while volumes fall, it confirms scarcity rather than a demand problem.
The India connection: a shared fish, a shared problem
Hilsa does not respect borders. The same fish that spawns in Bangladesh’s rivers is caught in West Bengal’s Hooghly and in the Bay of Bengal off India’s east coast, and the two countries share both the stock and the worry. Bangladesh still managed to export around 1,200 tonnes to India ahead of Durga Puja this year — a goodwill gesture that also shows how tight supply has become.
India’s own marine catch picture is mixed: Gujarat topped the states while Kerala slipped in India’s 3.47-million-tonne marine catch, and the pressures on shared migratory stocks — pollution, habitat change, juvenile fishing — are the same on both sides of the border. What Bangladesh learns from its hilsa research in the coming months will matter to Indian fishers too.
Globally, the picture is more mixed than this one stock suggests. The FAO’s SOFIA 2026 report put world fisheries and aquaculture production at a record 235 million tonnes in 2024, with aquaculture passing 100 million tonnes for the first time. But record global output can hide local collapses — which is why stock-by-stock data matters. The United States, for example, cut its overfishing list to a record low of 15 stocks in NOAA’s 2025 report, showing that sustained science-based management can turn a fishery around. And when science says stop, countries do stop: Peru cancelled an entire anchovy season in 2026 after 79% of the fish turned out to be juveniles.
Frequently asked questions
How much has Bangladesh’s hilsa production fallen?
From a record peak of 5.71 lakh tonnes in FY2022-23 to 4.20 lakh tonnes in FY2025-26 — a fall of about 1.51 lakh tonnes, or roughly 26%, over three years. The FY2025-26 drop alone was 16%.
Is hilsa in danger of disappearing?
No official source has declared the stock collapsed, and the fishery still produces 4.20 lakh tonnes a year. But three consecutive annual declines, a 78% fall in commercial Bay of Bengal landings, and the disappearance of large fish from Barishal’s rivers are warning signs that scientists are taking seriously.
What is the jatka ban?
An eight-month ban (1 November 2026 to 30 June 2027) on catching, selling, storing or transporting juvenile hilsa up to 25 cm long. It protects young fish so they can grow into breeding adults. It does not apply to large hilsa or other fish.
Why do fishers get rice during the ban?
Because the 22-day October ban takes away their only income. In 2026 the government gave 25 kg of rice to each of 6,47,690 fishing families in 38 districts under the vulnerable group feeding (VGF) programme. Some fishers say 25 kg is not enough for a family for 22 days, and have asked for cash support as well.
What is causing the decline?
The cause is still under investigation by the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute. Suspected factors include submerged shoals altering migration routes, river siltation and declining navigability, pollution, rising water temperatures, and illegal fishing with banned nets.
Sources: The Business Standard, “Hilsa catch falls for third year amid environmental threats, possible migration disruptions” (1 November 2026); The Daily Star, “Hilsa production dropped 26% in five years, fisheries minister tells parliament” (10 November 2026); Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), “51,894 tonnes hilsa, 5.80 lakh meters illegal fishing nets seized during 22-day ban” (29 October 2026); The Daily Star, “Barishal markets see more sea hilsa” (21 September 2026); Daily Sun, “Declining hilsa supply prompts dredging initiative in Barishal” (28 September 2026); The Business Standard, “Fish catch in Bay drops 21% in three years, hilsa plummets 78%” (8 October 2025); The New Indian Express, “Insider track — A note of farewell for Hilsa” (28 September 2026). All figures checked against the original reports on 15 November 2026. Note: the BSS headline’s seized-hilsa tonnage is not repeated here, as the figure could not be independently corroborated; all other enforcement figures are as stated in the Department of Fisheries release.
All images in this post are illustrations created for Fisheries India.