A severe electricity crisis has thrown fishermen and traders in Patharghata into deep trouble during peak hilsa season.
Patharghata, located in Barguna, is home to Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation (BFDC) fish landing centre, the second largest in the country.
Taking advantage of a sharp ice shortage caused by continuous power outages, local ice mill owners have formed a syndicate to sell ice cans for up to Tk600, three times the standard price of Tk200.
Around 90 per cent of the people in Patharghata upazila depend on fishing industry for their livelihood. Yet, the upazila suffers from the worst load-shedding in Barguna district.
To meet the heavy demand for ice from fishermen arriving from at least 13 districts, 22 ice mills were set up around the landing centre.
However, with power cuts worsening towards the end of hilsa season, ice production has ground to a halt. As a result, aratdars (wholesalers) and pykars (traders) are unable to preserve their catches.
Fishermen allege that mill owners are delivering low-quality, unripened ice while demanding exorbitant rates. The crisis has brought fishing operations to a standstill, leaving hundreds of sea-going fishing trawlers stranded in nearby rivers and canals.
Mohammad Bhutta, manager of FB Najma & Co, said he sent four trawlers to sea with ice, only to receive unripened blocks that melted into water before the vessels returned with their late season hilsa catch.
Forced to sell the spoiled fish at nominal prices, he failed to recover even half the operational costs of the four trawlers.
Bhutta noted that while unripened ice was sold at Tk250–300 per can, factory owners refused to sell fully matured, first-grade ice for less than Tk600, up from its usual price of Tk200.
Fishermen aboard the trawler FB N Jahan confirmed that matured ice could not be bought anywhere below Tk600. The acute shortage has halted fish dispatches from Patharghata to at least 10 districts, including Dhaka.
Kamal Hossain, manager of Aryan Fishing Company at the landing centre, warned that preserving hilsa and other fish with inferior ice destroys quality, damages long-term trade relationships with distant buyers, deceives consumers, and depresses market prices.
Shamim Rahman Abir, a local trader, shared that a maund (mon) of 1kg hilsa that fetched Tk1,20,000 last week had to be sold for just Tk60,000 to Tk70,000 due to the ice crisis.
Conversely, fish preserved with ice bought at Tk600 per can pushed the total market cost up to Tk1,60,000 per maund.
Golam Mostafa Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Fishers Trawler Owners Association, alleged that ice mill owners routinely form such syndicates towards the end of every hilsa season, driving trawler owners and fishermen into financial ruin and forcing many out of business.
In response, ice factory owners claimed that severe power disruptions make it impossible to produce fully matured ice, which requires 16 to 17 hours of uninterrupted electricity per can.
They explained that continuous power is available for only 2 to 3 hours in a 24-hour period, forcing them to supply unripened ice. Hasnat, manager of Masum Ice Factory, denied overcharging and blamed the price rise on the near-total lack of power.
Mohiuddin Khan, owner of Khan Ice Mill, said receiving electricity for only 3 to 4 hours daily significantly inflates production costs per can, leaving them with no choice but to charge higher prices without gaining extra profit.
Explaining the power situation, Arif Shahriar Fahad, deputy general manager (DGM) of Palli Bidyut Samity’s Patharghata Zonal Office, said against a daily demand of 14MW in Patharghata, the maximum supply received is only 5.5MW, forcing the authority to enforce load-shedding.
Meanwhile, Barguna District Fisheries Officer Mohammad Zia Uddin confirmed receiving complaints about exorbitant ice prices and assured that steps are being taken to stop overcharging.
He added that a formal request has been sent to the power department to place Patharghata upazila on the emergency power supply list given the national importance of hilsa.
The crisis comes just ahead of a nationwide 22-day government ban on all fishing in rivers and seas starting 8 October, aimed at protecting mother hilsa during their peak breeding season to boost fish stocks.
