How hilsa conservation is managed it is described here.

2. Concept of State
• When an increasing no. of species are being reported to be
endangered and threatened there needs to be concentrated
efforts towards management of the bio diversity.
• Hence an innovative approach to fish conservation by
declaring a State Fish was adopted at the NBFGR in 2006.
• 16 states of the country became partners with the NBFGR in
developing strategies for conservation and enhancement of
their selected State Fish.

3. Conservation of
Hilsa

5. Tenualosa ilisha (Hamilton, 1822)
It is also the
national fish of
Bangladesh.
Contributes 1% of
GDP in
Bangladesh
About 4.5 lakh
people are directly
involved with the
catching for
livelihood;
Around four to 5
million
people are indirectly
involved with the
trade.

6. Reasons Behind The Reduced Catch Of Hilsa In
2002-03 Season
(According to data source of FAO 2017 and DOF 2017).
Over Fishing:
• Overfishing takes place at the spawning season (‘recruitment
overfishing’) when hilsa migrate from the sea to rivers and
• During the grazing, feeding and development season, when
juvenile jatka are less than 23 to 25 cm long (‘growth
overfishing’).
Illigal use of Fishing Gears:
• Small meshed current jal, behundi jal (set bag net), Jagatber
jal (purse seine net) and charghera jal are identified as
destructive and used used illegally mainly to capture juvenile
Hilsa (jatka) indiscriminately in many areas.

7. • The number of boats engaged in fishing has increased by
25% within the time span of 14 years (from 2002 to 2015)
while the Hilsa catch has decreased by 13%. (Fernandes,
2018).
• In Bangladesh the numbers of fishing boat and gears are –
Year Fishing boat Fishing gear
1985–2000 6000 -
2001–02 25000 106,000
2011–12 45,689 242,450

8. The catch of hilsa
has declined due to
– The closure of
migration routes by
dams/barrages,
– Degradation of
habitats,
– Indiscriminate
harvesting of broods
and juveniles,
– Climatic variability.

9. Establishment of The Hilsa Conservation Programme
(BANGLADESH MODEL,2003)
Hilsa
Fisheries
Management
Action Plan
(HFMAP)
Alternative
Income
Generation
Activities
(AIGA)
Economic
Incentives
For Fisher
Households
Enforcing
Regulations
Recommen
dations for
agencies

10. 1)Hilsa Fisheries Management
Action Plan (HFMAP)
 Increase hilsa production by protecting jatka and brood hilsa.
 Enforcing the fish protection and conservation act, establishing
hilsa sanctuaries.
 Create alternative job opportunities for jatka/hilsa fishers.
 Raise mass awareness about jatka/hilsa conservation.
 Catching, transporting, marketing and stock-piling of Hilsa
have been banned in Bangladesh each year in the major spawning
grounds during the last fortnight of September for 11 days either
side of a full moon to conserve the gravid Hilsa population.
Objectives

11. 2)Alternative Income Generation
Activities (AIGA)
Objectives:
1. To improve the livelihoods of households affected
by fishing restrictions.
2. To provide need-based training, refresher courses
and microcredit to enable hilsa fishers to do activities
like business.
Some households have been provided with-
 Rickshaws,
 Goats,
 Cows (for fattening),
 Sewing machines, as well as cash for small businesses,
 Net making,
 Poultry,
 Plant nurseries,
 Kitchen gardening and
 Cage culture

13. 3)Economic Incentives For Fisher
Households
• Hilsa fisher households affected by the fishing ban have been
given 40 kilograms of rice per month since 2013 (an increase on
the previous allowance) during the ban period (01 November–31
May).
• The DoF implements the project(Food Grain Distribution)
through its three units:
1. The central office (based in dhaka),
2. The district fisheries office and
3. The upazila fisheries office.

14. Food Grain Distribution Flow Chart

15. 4)Enforcing Regulations
Each year law enforcement agencies run a number of mobile
courts and other operations to seize illegal jatka or hilsa catches
and file cases against offending fishers under the Mobile Court
Ordinance 2007.
Brood Hilsa Management Activities By Law Enforcing Agencies

16. 5)Recommendations for agencies
• To carry out the program effectively the Dof needs the support of
additional human, physical and financial resources.
• To create a new post of ‘fisheries regulation officer’
• The BFRI(Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute) could also
collaborate with universities and other research institutions.

17. Referring to the West Bengal Government data, the
researcher clarified that though in the last several years, except for
2010, the annual catch has remained below 25,440 tonnes & gets a
negative impact on the stock in subsequent years.
Declining Trend of Hilsa Yield
Indian Context:
YEAR YIELD(TONNES)
2000 –’01 12,733
2010 – ’12 20,000

18. Management and conservation in india
In India, the West Bengal Fisheries Department included new
amendments on April 2013 under the West Bengal Inland Fisheries
Act (West Ben. Act XXV of 1984) to protect Hilsa fishery and its
breeding grounds. The following rules have been amended:
Five breeding grounds of Hilsa have been identified and marked as
Hilsa sanctuary in West Bengal.
The size of monofilament gillnets
and other nets have been restricted
to below 90 mm and below 40 mm
respectively in the inland open
water system.
Fishing of Hilsa having a
length below 23 cm is banned
within the area of West Bengal
Govt. jurisdiction.

19. Contd.
Fishing of Hilsa of any size is completely prohibited between 5
days prior and post of the full moon for the period of 14th
September to 24th October every year for promoting breeding and
spawning.
Bottom trawling in the
shallow continental shelf
(12 nautical miles) is
totally banned to conserve
marine biodiversity and
habitat in the shallow area
and to facilitate Hilsa
growth and breeding.

20. Conclusion
• For a long term sustainable exploitation, fishing of small sized Hilsa
should be stopped through multiple socio-economic adaptation such
as extending current food subsidies during fishing bans, extending
fishermen literacy and training in alternative livelihoods.
• Sanctuary creation should continue.
• Strong and effective regional collaboration among three
neighbouring countries, Bangladesh, India and Myanmar – should
continue based on recent works such as BOBLME, ESPA and the
DECCMA project.

21. Referrence
• Hossain M., Das I., Genevier L, Hazra S., Rahmand M., Barange M., Fernandes J. A.; Biology
and fisheries of Hilsa shad in Bay of Bengal; Science of the Total Environment 651 (2019)
1720–1734.
• Sunny A., Hassan N., Mahashin M. and Nahiduzzaman M.; Present status of hilsa shad
(Tenualosa ilisha) in Bangladesh: A review ; Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2017;
5(6): 2099-2105.
• Dutta S. & Sugata Hazra S.; From biology to management: A critical review of Hilsa Shad
(Tenualosa ilisha); Indian J. Mar. Sci., Vol. 46, No. 08, August 2017;
• Suresh V. R., Sajina A. M., Dasgupta S., De D., Chattopadhyay D. N., Behera B. K., Ranjan R.,
Mohindra V. And Bhattachrya S.; Current status of knowledge on hilsa; ICAR, Barrackpore;
2017.
• Dutta, S.,Maity, S., Chanda, A., Hazra, S., 2012. Population structure,mortality rate and
exploitation rate of Hilsa Shad (Tenualosa ilisha) in West Bengal Coast of Northern Bay of
Bengal, India. World J. Fish Mar. Sci. 4 (1), 54–59
• BOBLME, 2010. Status of Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) management in the Bay of Bengal – an
assessment of population risk and data gaps formore effective regionalmanagement.
BOBLME–2010–Ecology–01 (70 pp).
• Slide share

22. WEST BENGAL UNIVERSITY OF ANIMAL & FISHERY SCIENCES
FACULTY OF FISHERY SCIENCES
FRM – 329
A SEMINAR ON
HILSA CONSERVATION
PRESENTED BY:
SAILESH MAHAPATRA
B.F.Sc 3rd yr. 2nd sem.
ROLL NO. F/2016/21
PRESENTED TO:
Prof. t.s. Nagesh
DEPT. OF FRM

23. THANK
YOU…