About 6,000 kilogrammes of coral fish were caught in a single haul off St Martin’s Island, sparking widespread excitement among fishermen and traders.
Fishermen said more than 1,000 fish were caught, each weighing five to seven kilogrammes. The total catch weighed around 6,000 kilogrammes, or 150 maunds.
According to local sources, the fishes were sold to a trader for around Tk35 lakh. A trawler and a boat owned by Mizan of Kerantali in Teknaf set out to sea on Monday morning with 21 fishermen.
On Tuesday afternoon, while fishing in the south-eastern Bay of Bengal near St Martin’s Island, the fishermen spotted a large shoal of fish. They encircled it with nets and within hours landed a huge quantity of red coral fish.
At the fishery ghat, trader Md Rashid bought the haul at Tk26,000 per maund, paying about Tk35 lakh. “I have been in the fish business for a long time, but catching such a large quantity of red coral fish in a single net is truly rare,” Rashid said. The fish are being preserved with ice and sent to wholesale markets in Jatrabari, Karwan Bazar, and Abdullahpur in Dhaka.
Local fishermen noted that such large shoals are rarely caught at the end of the fishing season, calling the haul a major economic success.
Cox’s Bazar District Fisheries Officer Md Nazmul Huda welcomed the catch as a sign of marine resource abundance but stressed the need for ecological balance and sustainable fishing.
“We regularly make fishermen aware of government regulations, including using registered vessels, avoiding banned nets, refraining from catching undersized fish, and complying with breeding-season bans,” he said.
“These measures help increase fish reproduction and ensure long-term conservation,” he added.
The scientific name of the red coral fish is Lutjanus argentimaculatus, a species widely found in the Bay of Bengal and along coastal areas.
