PIROJPUR, Nov 25: Sea fish floods different haats and bazaars under the district this winter season.
The sea fish has a good demand home and abroad, and is very popular to the people of coastal areas.
As prices of the fish are comparatively cheap, people are showing interest in buying the fish.
There are two main fish landing centres in the district- Parerhaat fish landing centre under Sadar upazila and Miarhaat fish landing centre under Nesarabad upazila of the district.
Parerhaat is the biggest station of fish trading in the district.  Huge quantity of fishes (around 90 per cent) are landed here round the year, especially in winter and rainy seasons.
Parerhaat is also one of the most important coastal belt fish landing centres. The market is famous for wholesale. Fish traders from different places of the district and other districts crowed Parerhaat fish landing centre every morning to buy fishes.  
According to sources at district fisheries department, about 730 metric tons of sea fish worth about Tk 15 crore are traded every year at the fish landing centres of the district.
Total fish production including sea fish in the district is 2186 metric tons per year, which is more than actual requirement of the district, and surplus fishes are supplied to different districts of the country, the sources added.
In this winter season, different types of fishes are coming from the sea. Sea-going fishermen catch the fishes at the Bay of Bangle by their traditional nets and boats, mechanised boats and trawlers with life risk.
Now it is the peak season of catching sea fishes. Most of the time, they catch catfish, sea-catfish, hilsa, Indian salmon, silver pomp frits, groper, ribbon fish, jew fish, big eye ilish, Bombay duck, Indian king mackerel, little tuna, silver whiting fish, oil sardine fish, hard tail scads, dwarf stingray and many others fishes.
Every haat, bazaars are now full of sea fishes selling at a cheaper price. The fishes are preserved with ice; it is a natural process and hygienic.
A nutritionist and physician Dr. Shankar Kumar Ghose, who is also an official of Zianagar upazila health and family planning office, said, "From sea fish, we get protein and iodine, so it is very good for health of all age".
One member of Dubla fishermen's group Kamal Uddin Ahmed said, the number of sea-goers is declining because of huge casualties in the last two decades by sudden tidal surge and storms. Not only that there is danger in the sea water from the pirates and foreign vessels from neighbouring countries, such as India, Thailand and Myanmar, which catch fish illegally, he added.   
Kamal Uddin further said, but now situation is improving as Naval force and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) team are guarding the sea water and forest.
District fishery officer Dr. Oliur Rahman said, almost 200 boats and trawlers go to the sea for fish catching and coming back to Parerhaat fish centre every season. On an average, there are 10 fishermen in a boat and trawler, and catching fish is their main profession, he added.
 Upazila fishery officer Md. Mozammel Hossain said, "We have conducted a research on local and sea fish and we found there are huge potentiality in this sector. Like hisa, shark fin and shark meat are also exportable items, he added.
He also said with frustration, "Our fish sector is facing effect of climate change that results in saline water; but fishes are found mainly in sweet water. So our fish resources are decreasing".
Fish trader Fazlu Mia focused on the infrastructure development of the fish market, saying, "We need a fish processing industry and a cold storage here".
Another fish trader and exporter Abdus Salam said, "To export fish, proper cutting, gutting and processing technology is needed, and our people are not properly trained. So we are losing foreign markets'.