Hilsa caught in the debt trap

In his various writings, the renowned author Syed Mujtaba Ali has often mentioned the delicious taste of the fish hilsa. In his article 'Adda', he places hilsa on a pedestal among heavenly foods. Once he got into an argument with a Punjabi professor and vehemently asserted that "The best meal in the world is fine rice with hilsa." But the Punjabi professor rejected that assertion and insisted that biriyani was the best. They didn't speak to each other for a week!

Had Mujtaba Ali been alive today, before singing praise for hilsa, he would perhaps think ten times about its price. Even in peak season, the price of hilsa is sky high. The common people don't even dream of eating hilsa.

How did this come about? When exports and smuggling came to a halt during the Covid pandemic in 2020-21, people could eat hilsa to their heart's content. Hilsa from the Padma and Meghna rivers were sold in abundance on the footpaths of Dhaka city. But why is there such a hue and cry over hilsa now? Why are prices so high? Is this simply because the fish is being exported to India? Or is it for some other reasons that cropped up earlier?

Prothom Alo took up the task of investigating the reason behind such exorbitant prices of hilsa. One dismaying story after the other emerged. On one hand climate change is affecting the breeding of hilsa, and on the other hand there is the encroachment and pollution of rivers and the unscrupulous dealings of hilsa traders. During the prohibited season, egg-bearing mother hilsa are being netted and all year round small hilsa (jatka) and hilsa fry are being caught despite the ban. Hilsa is in dire straits. The fishermen are unable to catch hilsa. And whatever they do manage to catch, are trapped in the hands of avaricious profit-mongering traders. This shady middleman syndicate holds hostage the favourite fish of Bangalis, hilsa.

Prothom Alo investigations unearthed at least 5 traps of this middleman syndicate where 5 types of traders avidly await their prey. They are both hilsa buyers and sellers. And among them, three are netted in the debt or "dadon" trap (money-lender's trap). They are obliged to hand over the hilsa only to those who have provided them with the loan. They cannot survey the market to get the best price. Caught up in this tricky market system, the price of hilsa increases at every step.

In our investigations we found that a group of fishermen, at the risk of their lives, spend 9 to 10 days out at sea, catch the fish and sell this for Tk 600,000. Then amidst the manipulations of the money-lending groups, the middlemen pocket around a few thousand taka each. Yet the fishermen go home, each with a debt of Tk 571.42 hanging above their heads.

Another dismal revelation that emerged in the investigations is that despite their being specific legal directives regarding the market management of hilsa, our national pride, so coveted by other countries, the persons concerned are inactive. As a result, this intricate part of the Bangali's life, is now held hostage by these money-lending "dadon" syndicates. Caught up in this vortex, the price of the "free" river hilsa is now touching the sky. The price is being controlled by the big wholesalers, who rake in the profits. They are in the capital and other cities of the country. We have tried to expose them in this three-part series.

Four correspondents were assigned to "hilsa areas" of the country to carry out these investigations. They went around rivers, seas, estuaries, hilsa sanctuaries, hilsa jetties, trading hubs and the retail markets to collect information. This information was collated, analysed and disseminated among experts. Legal experts were consulted. Taking lead from their statements and views, a probe was made into hilsa-related establishments.

During investigations, a local wholesaler sneered at this correspondent, saying, "You are talking about the people, the poor people! Why do they even look at hilsa? This fish isn't for them! This is for the wealthy people..."

Supreme Court lawyer Shihab Uddin Khan, talking to Prothom Alo about the matter, said, "If the price of hilsa is artificially increased and decreased to destabilise the market and if the common people are unable to eat hilsa because of this, legally speaking this is curbing the rights of the people."

Amid drizzling rain, at around 7:30 in the morning of 25 September, our Patharghata correspondent Amin Sohel reached the Patharghata BFDC fish landing center in Barguna. Let's see the events that unfolded there:
As he arrived there by easy-bike, he was met with a buzz of activity. There was the two-storey wholesale fish market where fish buying and selling, packing and transportation was all managed throughout the day. Lines of fishing trawlers were anchored at the jetty behind the main BFDC building. Fish was being unloaded from some trawlers. The moment unloading of one trawler was finished, a security guard blew his whistle. Then the trawler "FB Marium" came towards the jetty. It berthed there and the silvery hilsa in the hold, glinted in the sun.

One of the boatmen, Emdadul Huq, said that they had set out to sea seven days ago and returned in the evening of the previous say, anchoring at the jetty. The main boatman and half of the crew had left and gone home. The rest remained back, and would leave once the fish was sold. The owner of this trawler Jasimuddin had handed over the vessel to the main boatman. The boatman selected the rest of the crew. For example, Yunus Majhi of "FB Marium" formed 17-member crew including himself, his assistant, a cook, a mechanic and 13 fishermen. They may have different job titles, but basically they are all fishermen and all of them are engaged in catching fish.

The fishermen lifted the hilsa from the hold while the jetty workers, wearing gloves, stood in a line with their baskets in front of the trawler. They passed the baskets of fish from head to head, dumping these on the floor of M/s Maa Fish stockists. The owner of this establishment is Abdus Salam.

Once all the fish was piled on the floor, the auction began. The wholesalers gathered all around. Abdus Salam called out, "Name your price, name your price!" Three wholesalers, Abbas Hossain, Bachchu Gazi and Zakir Munshi, poked the fish to check the condition of the hilsa. The stockist said, "The fish are not bad, you don't have to check. These are top quality fish." He calls out again, "Name your price, name your price!"

Wholesaler Zakir Munshi bid Tk 51,000 for a maund of hilsa. The auctioneer stockist called out, "Going for 51, going for 51 thousand..." Then another wholesale called out, "52 thousand." Another called 52, yet another 53,500. The prices climbed until a wholesaler bid for fish at 56,000. That's it. Things went quiet and the supplier Abdus Salam called out 56, 56.... no one bid higher. He called out, "Going for 56-1, 56-2, 56-3!" The auction ends. Finally all the hilsa from FB Marium was sold for Tk 56,000 a maund. Bachchu Gazi is the wholesaler who bought the fish. He is a resident of Pathargatha. He bought the 5 maunds of hilsa of the trawler Marium for Tk 280,000. He bought another Tk 120,000 worth of other fish from the trawler through auction too.

The 5 maunds of hilsa were now going to Bachchu Gazi's establishment and we follow. The fish was piled up on the floor and sorted according to size, freshness and brightness. Most of the fish weigh around 800 grams each. These were now packed in cork sheet boxes, 25 hilsa per box. Each box weighed around 21kg. Ice was added to the boxes, the boxes were closed and then sealed with duct tape.

Similarly on Bachchu Gazi's floor, another 35 maunds of hilsa were packed in cork sheet boxes and loaded on a truck with the licence number Khulna Metro Da 11-0336. The truck started off for Khulna at around 5:30pm. Truck driver Al Mamum said, "The wholesaler has said to deliver the fish to Khulna's Gol Chattar of Rupsha Ghat. But the location might change. I'll drop the fish off wherever they say."

The truck set off and we returned to 'Ma Fish', the establishment owned by Abdus Salam. He said by selling the 5 maund of hilsa of Marium Trawler bought for Tk 280,000 and the Tk 120,000 of other fish, that is Tk 400,000 in all, he received an 8 per cent commission of Tk 32,000. However, he said, "I have a "dadon" of Tk 1 million in the Marium trawler and that is why I deduct 8 per cent. I similarly have Tk 7 deposits with 7 trawlers and thus run by fish supply business."

When asked if he had any licence or approval for this "dadon" or money-lending business, Abdus Salam told Prothom Alo, "What's the point in asking? I'll tell you later." Avoiding the question, he walks off. When we follow him, he says, "I won't say anything now. Come for a snack later. I'll tell you quietly." When asked again, he sneers, "You are talking about the people, the poor people? Why do they look at hilsa? This fish is not for them. This fish is for the wealthy..."

It was clear that the stockists like Salam were in the second phase of the "dadon" syndicate. The trawler owners themselves are in the first phase. Around Tk 5 million to Tk 9 million is spent on building and equipping a trawler. There are even costlier trawlers in various areas. These trawler owners take loans too and even give loans or dadon to "buy" the boatmen and their fishermen crew.

Our investigations revealed that with "dadon" net comes from a much bigger area and ensnares everyone involved in the hilsa business, right down to the smallest fisherman. This will be further elaborated in Part 3 of this series.

Other than the "dadon," each trawler needs a few lakh taka worth of purchases before going off to sea to catch hilsa. This includes diesel, ice, gas cylinders, seven-days of rice, lentils, salt, spices, vegetables, betel-leaf (paan) cigarettes, tea, drinking water drums and such. The trawler owner buys all this. However, not so much is needed when fishing for hilsa in the rivers. That is different. Nowadays there is hardly any hilsa in the rivers. Part 1 of this series describes that scene. This part deals with sea hilsa.

Boatman of FB Marium, Emdadul Huq, says the trawler owner Jasim Uddin does around Tk 450,000 shopping for their trip. They started off on 14 September for the sea but had to return in two days because of bad weather. They got fish worth Tk 200,000 on this short trip. This time they netted fish worth Tk 400,000. That means, Tk 600,000 from two trips.
The "dadon" knife of moneylending continues. The trawler owner Jasim Uddin has given "dadon" of Tk 400,000 to the boatman Yunus. The commission on this is 9 per cent. In turn, the stockist Abdus Salam has given Tk 1 million "dadon" to the trawler owner. The commission on this is 8 per cent. Now the fish caught by the boatmen and fishermen in two trips is worth Tk 600,000. The "dadon" commission of 9+8=17 per cent is deducted from that. This cut is Tk 102,000. So after all the deductions the amount due to the fishermen and boatmen is Tk 48,000.

But there is more to it. The main boatman Yunus takes the responsibility and divides the Tk 400,000 "dadon" among the 17 member drew, according to experience. He is in charge of such an expensive trawler and is leader of the crew. He gets more than the other. He gets one thousand taka from each lakh of the fish sale, that is, Tk 6000 from Tk 600,000. When that is deducted, Tk 42,000 is left. Then Tk 2000 is cut from that for pocket money of the 17 crew members. Then Tk 40,000 is left.

That is still not the end of the story. There are still deductions to be made. Trawler owner Jasim will get 10 annas of this Tk 40,000, that is, Tk 25,000. The remaining 6 annas is then divided into 21 parts. The main boatman gets 3 parts, his assistant 2 parts, the mechanic and cook 1.5 parts and the remaining 13 fishermen get 1 part each.

So the fishermen and boatmen who leave their families and risk their lives at sea for 9 to 10 days at a stretch to bring in a haul of fish worth Tk 600,000, receive how much in the end? You divide Tk 15,000 into 21 parts and they each get only Tk 714.29!

This is a heartrending and tragic picture of the hilsa story. The fishermen and boatmen has no alternative but to accept this system of sharing the money. This is the money-lending or "dadon" trap. They have nothing to do but accept this verbal agreement.

The story still doesn't end here. Just in case he is castigated, the money-lending trawler owner adds another Tk 27,000 to that Tk 15,000 to make it Tk 42 thousand and then pays off the fishermen with Tk 2000 each. But there is an ulterior motive behind this "kindness" too. They are told that this 27,000 is given as a loan. If they don't get fish in the next trips, they can't make any claims. But if they catch fish, the loan will be adjusted from the price the fish fetch. So the bottom line is, each get a payment of Tk 714.29 and a loan of Tk 1,285.71. In this manner, the fishermen and boatmen of FB Marium, after slogging day and night with the lives at risk, each return home with a debt burden of Tk 571.42 around their necks.
As he leaves, the main boatman of FB Marium, Emdadul Huq, gives a sad laugh and says, "I have been catching fish at sea for the past 30 years. I have made nothing. We fishermen just remain the same. They skim off all the profits."

Two days later we visited Emdadul Huq's house. His 30-year-old daughter Shireen Akhter said, "My mother Halima Begum has been ailing for two years and grandmother Rabeya Khatun for three years. We need medicines of around Tk 80 to 100 for them every day. Another Tk 100 is needed for my younger brother Yasim Arafat to go to college every day. Unless he gets a job, our father will not be able to run the family alone."
Stockist Abdus Salam's voice comes to the mind. When asked whether they tried to increase the price at the start of the auction, he had said, "We want the price to increase, then the fishermen can get a bit extra." That seems such a farce. But it is also only natural that the trader will try to get a higher price at the first step. After all, everyone is in this trap of usury.

Our plan is to follow the trail of the hilsa of FB Marium Trawler, where these fish end up, how the cost increases steadily and how much the consumers buy the fish for in the end. So we give our Khulna correspondent the truck number and the mobile number of the truck driver Al Mamun. He conceals his identity and talks to the truck driver at around 8:30pm to learn the truck will arrive at Khulna at around 10:30pm. Calls were made several times to the truck driver between 10:00 pm and 10:30pm, but he did not respond. The correspondent waited at the Sachibuniya intersection, considering that the truck may pass through the city's zero point to head towards Satkhira. It was raining. Just after 11:00pm the truck was spotted going past the Sachibuniya intersection towards Gollamari. Following the truck, it was seen it went via Gollamari, Nirala, Moilapotar intersection to Rupsha KCC wholesale fish market and halted here. It was all quiet. The few people there were asleep. Some woke up at the sound of the truck. After a bit, a cycle van and three men came and unloaded the hilsa packets from the truck and took them to the 'Madhumati Fish' establishment there.

The workers there said that these hilsa had been brought from Patharghata to be exported to India. The next day (26 September) the fish would be sent via the Benapole land port to Kolkata.

The next evening the 'Madhumati Fish' proprietor (managing director) Gopal Biswas said his company generally import and export fish from and to India. That day (26 September) they were exporting 170 packets of hilsa to India through Benapole, Jashore. The fish had come from Pathargatha, Patuakhali and Cox's Bazar. When the name of wholesaler Bachchu was mentioned, Gopal Biswas said, "Shah Alam of Mahipur, Kalapara, sends me the fish. I have heard of Bachchu Gazi too." But he was unwilling to say how much he had paid Shah Alam or Bachchu Gazi.

That was a problem. We took so much trouble to follow the trail and now the hilsa were off to India! But we were not going to give up. In the evening the Khulna correspondent went to the Rupsha fish market and asked the retail price of hilsa. An 800 gram hilsa there sold for around Tk 1,800 per kg.

So it could be discerned that the hilsa bought by Patharghatha wholesaler Bachchu Gazi for Tk 1,400 per kg and sent to Khulna, would go up in cost by Tk 400 per kg it sold in the local retail market. But there was another twist. If bought in auction, a maund of fish is 42kg, Bachchu Gazi's boxes each carry 21 kg or half a maund of fish. As this is perishable, the price comes to Tk 1,333 per kg. But this is adjusted with the Tk 50 to Tk 60 for transport and ice costs. The retailers buy the fish from the wholesalers with another hike in cost and then they sell it at a higher price yet again to the retail buyers.

Director of M/s Madina Fish Traders at the Rupsha KCC wholesale fish market, Md Abu Musa, told our correspondent, there is still competition in the market at present. They sell fish at retails with just a profit of Tk 5 to Tk 10 per fish. The retailers get 100 gram extra per kg. Abu Musa also admitted to paying the wholesalers and stockists "dadon" so as to ensure they get a steady supply of fish.

Needless to say, because of this all-devouring usury, the money-lending trend of "dadon", the hilsa market is not competitive. No one can bargain and assess the market when buying or selling. Whoever can release more "dadon", can grab the bigger lot of fish and can control the market. He can increase or decrease the price of the fish at will.

The next day that Patharghatha correspondent visited wholesaler Bachchu Gazi again to ask about the cost of those hilsa. This time he said, "I have no idea where the hilsa have gone. I send the fish to Jhanu Babu in Jashore. He told me to load the fish on that truck." When asked for Jhanu Babu's phone number, he avoided giving the number.

Rajshahi's Prothom Alo correspondent finally managed to get Jhanu Babu's phone number. His actual name is Jan Mohammad. He is known to be the biggest fish stockist in Rajshahi. His business partner is Meraj Hossain Babu. They have named their establishment 'Janu-Babu-Rajshahi', not Jhanu-Babu. But after talking to him two days, it would seem Jhanu (wily) would have been a more appropriate name for him. One the first day he said, he imported fish to Rajshahi for a 30 per cent commission. He also said that he did not give any order for fish to Patharghatha's Bachchu Gazi that day.

The next day when we visited his establishment, he acted to be poor and said, "Bachchu Gazi owns the fish. I just auction his fish and get a three per cent commission."

During investigations we found that whatever the stockists said upfront at first, later proved to be false. For example, Khulna's Gopal Biswas had said that he had bought 800-gram-hilsa at the rate of Tk 1,200 per kg. Yet in the Patharghatha hub the 850-gram-hilsa was auctioned at Tk 1,400 per kg. Then again, Rajshahi's Janu Babu mentioned a certain price for the hilsa at his hub, but immediately checking this out at Shaheb Bazar, it was seen that the retail price was even less which would have been impossible. On the first day he said he sold hilsa, on the next day he said he auctions hilsa. While there is no auctioning in Khulna, this goes on at Rajshahi. When the matter of money-lending or "dadon" was raised, Janu Babu said, "I did pay some long ago. But it is not required any more. I do not pay. Others do." It was evident that "dadon" was a reason for increased prices.

Yunus Majhi and his fishermen of Patharghatha catch fish at sea and make no money through the auction. On the contrary, they all go home each with a debt burden of Tk 571.42. And the people, the retail buyers, buy that fish for Tk 1,800 per kg. At least 5 traders have made profit on that fish.
Do you want to hear an account of their profit? Take the trawler FB Marium for example: 1. The trawler owner Jasim makes a commission of Tk 54,000 on his dadon from the fish worth Tk 600,000 caught by the fishermen. And after all cuts and commission, he gets 10 anna of the profits, another Tk 25,000. His total earning Tk 79,000. The Tk 400,000 "dadon" he gave as down payment to retain the fishermen and boatmen for one season is non-refundable. Does that mean so much money will be counted as his loss?

Let's look into it. The hilsa catching season is, in Bengali months, 1 Ashar to 30 Aswin, that is, four months. Jasim's trawler takes seven-day trips. Even if it takes 10-day trips, in all it can make 12 trips a season. The catch is not the same on all trips. Sometimes more fish are caught, sometimes less. If we take the trip we followed as an average, then 12 trips will mean an earning for Tk 948,000 for Jasim. Hilsa is caught off and on at other times around the year too. He makes money from those trips too. His Marium trawler is made of foreign wood. It will last from 10 to 12 years. So he can make huge profits from this trawler.

2. The stockist Salam has his "dadon" commission of Tk 48,000. Then again, he gets a commission of Tk 400 per maund from the wholesaler to whom he sells hilsa and a taka percentage commission on other fish. That crew of fishermen caught 8 maunds of fish on two trips and 5 maunds of other fish (Tk 30,000 per maund). That means another Tk 10,700. In that manner the local stockist makes an earning of Tk 58,700.

Then again, he had tied up the trawler owner with a down payment "dadon" of Tk 1 million. He will only get that back when the trawler goes into contract with a different stockist. So, stockist Salam has made Tk 705,000 in the current season just from FB Marium Trawler alone, according to the average calculations of the trawler owner Jasim. And there are still more days ahead for further profit.

3. Wholesaler Bachchu Gazi's manager has recorded the price of hilsa in their books at Tk 57,000 per maund. Speaking to another three wholesalers, it was seen they will get at least Tk 1000 profits more than in the books. From that, Tk 400 will be paid to the local stockists. So at the rate of a profit of Tk 1,600 per maund, wholesaler Bachchu Gazi makes a profit of Tk 1,300 from hilsa alone and another Tk 2,500 on other fish bought at Tk 30,000 per maund on auction, meaning a total Tk 3,800.

4. Despite all out efforts, we could not learn how much profit the biggest stockist in Khulna, Rajshahi or Dhaka made on that fish. But he is the one who skim in the highest profits, no doubt. After all, he is the main man in the entire syndicate. The money he lends out as "dadon" is an investment in which he has bound the hilsa trade at all the jetties, the wholesalers, the stockists and the trawler owners. There is no account of this "dadon". There is nothing in writing. It is all word of mouth, a mutual trust.

The  last part of the investigative series will focus on this and how much the main trader in Dhaka makes from this hilsa, how much the retailers buy the hilsa from him and how much they make when they sell it to the common consumer.

(Abul Kalam Muhammad Azad, Rajshahi; M Jasim Uddin, Barishal; Sheikh Al-Ahsan, Khulna; and Amin Sohel, Pathargatha, Barguna, contributed to this report.)