7 Indians buy one hilsa in share!

[alimobin memon]

Hilsa is expensive in pakistan too. Its adequate size costs 4 to 5000 rs here that can be eaten by 2 to 3 people.

 

[fitpOsitive]

Some fish possess this behavior. Pacific Salmon also do this (lay eggs upstream in the rivers, in this case Columbia river).

If we don't eat them, they will die after spawning (most migrating fish species are like these, juveniles stay in freshwater, adults swim out to sea and return for spawning in freshwater). Sockeye Pacific Salmon are a great example. Consuming rather than wasting fish is better.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockeye_salmon

In case Palla or Hilsa, we catch them before they lay eggs.

 

[Bilal9]

Here is a PDF of the Hilsa study done by IUCN conservation group. Excellent source for studying the subject.
https://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/iucn_hilsa_study.pdf

In case Palla or Hilsa, we catch them before they lay eggs.

If the spawning doesn't occur, then there won't be new baby fishes born. Your information may not be fully correct.

 

[Placemat]

Beef ban by Hindus is a recent practice. During vedic times and also well into the fifteenth, sixteenth century AD there was no beef ban AFAIK. People say this was done so cows could be saved for draft animal agricultural use.



Stand against this injustice and complain!!

Nikalo iss Kaley, Bhukhey, Nangey loogon-ko.

I agree and beef ban is idiotic political.gimmick. it should be lifted.

If any ban should be there then ban all meat eating. Not selectively .

 

[313ghazi]

Never tried it. My go to choices for fish are salmon and cod.

 

[fitpOsitive]

Here is a PDF of the Hilsa study done by IUCN conservation group. Excellent source for studying the subject.
https://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/iucn_hilsa_study.pdf




If the spawning doesn't occur, then there won't be new baby fishes born. Your information may not be fully correct.

In Pakistan, this fish is cought in Sindh province. The destination however, is Attok river. So you see. Some might scape each year.

 

[Bengal71]

Cooked aroma, not uncooked. The flavor comes from buttery fish oil after it is cooked in Mustard sauce. You don't need oil to cook it. It will cook in its own oil.



NYC also have their own variety in their rivers in the summer. They are called 'Shad'. However tropical variety and NYC variety have huge difference in cooked taste. Hilsa found in Kolkata locally also don't taste as good and of course command a lot lower price.



Palla is a Sindhi specialty, and reportedly from Hyderabad in Pakistan. Haven't tasted it though to compare with Hilsa.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1204243

I heard about the Shad although never tasted it. But from my previous reading Shad is similar to Hilsha but NOT Hilsha. Also Youtube videos show Shad being caught by fishing hook. Hilsha can't be caught with fishing rod and hook as it does not take bait.

The Pakistani Palla seems to be Hilsha.

Apparently Hilsha is also available in the Persian Gulf, caught by Iraqi fishermen ans sold in Basra, Iraq. As per the link below it's locally called Saboor and also the National Fish of Iraq. Looks like Iraqis too appreciate the fish.


https://www.researchgate.net/public...milton-Buchanon_1822_in_Basrah_-Southern_IRAQ
/266172771_Commercial_Fishing_and_Marketing_of_Hilsa_Shad_Tenualosa_ilisha_Hamilton-Buchanon_1822_in_Basrah_-Southern_IRAQ

Palla hilsa hilsha, same fish. This poor creature comes from Indian sea to lay eggs, and boom. May be they don't know we like them so much.

Hilsa is expensive in pakistan too. Its adequate size costs 4 to 5000 rs here that can be eaten by 2 to 3 people.

So Hilsha is known in Pakistan and also seems to be popular? So why so many of these Pakistani members pretend as if they don't know nothing about it?

 

[fitpOsitive]

I heard about the Shad although never tasted it. But from my previous reading Shad is similar to Hilsha but NOT Hilsha. Also Youtube videos show Shad being caught by fishing hook. Hilsha can't be caught with fishing rod and hook as it does not take bait.

The Pakistani Palla seems to be Hilsha.

Apparently Hilsha is also available in the Persian Gulf, caught by Iraqi fishermen ans sold in Basra, Iraq. As per the link below it's locally called Saboor and also the National Fish of Iraq. Looks like Iraqis too appreciate the fish.


https://www.researchgate.net/public...milton-Buchanon_1822_in_Basrah_-Southern_IRAQ
/266172771_Commercial_Fishing_and_Marketing_of_Hilsa_Shad_Tenualosa_ilisha_Hamilton-Buchanon_1822_in_Basrah_-Southern_IRAQ





So Hilsha is known in Pakistan and also seems to be popular? So why so many of these Pakistani members pretend as if they don't know nothing about it?

Actually I have some Bengali friends, that's why I knew this fish and its counterpart in Pakistan. No body knows hilsha in Pakistan, and palla(hilsha) is only known in Sindh region.

 

[Riyad]

Palla hilsa hilsha, same fish. This poor creature comes from Indian sea to lay eggs, and boom. May be they don't know we like them so much.

The Palla stays away


Pakistan is losing a living heritage, as climate change and dams upstream have led to lack of enough water in the Indus for the famous Palla fish to swim upstream and spawn

Young fisherman Ali spreads his net in Hajamaro Creek of the Indus delta in the hope of catching Palla [image by Amar Guriro]

Amar Guriro, April 16, 2016

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• Articles

Tags:

• biodiversity
• climate change
• Pakistan

Regions:

• Indus
• Pakistan

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• Biodiversity
• Climate Change

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Pakistan’s lifeline river Indus is no more a spawning ground for the famous south Asian anadromous fish, the Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha), known locally as the Palla. Scientists blamed the change in monsoon pattern as a result of climate change.

In most years, for over 300 days out of 365, the Indus does not reach the Arabian Sea any more. Due to this lack of freshwater at its estuary, the Palla no longer goes up the river to spawn.

The result, the annual catch of the fish is now 1% of what it was just two decades ago.

Palla being sold on the roadside near the Indus in Thatta district of Sindh province [image by Amar Guriro]

An anadromous fish — which after birth in freshwater travels to the sea, spends most of its life in marine water and returns to freshwater for breeding — the Palla needs a steady flow of freshwater down the river to the estuary, especially during the breeding season.


Saintly vehicle

Fishermen in the Indus delta believe the Palla is a devotee of a Sufi saint, an elderly man with a flowing white beard and holding a rosary; this saint used to travel up and down the river sitting on the back of the Palla. Muslims call the saint Kuwaja Khizir, Hindus Jholey Lal or Udero Lal.

Once upon a time, the story goes, when the Indus used to roar down to the sea during the monsoon, the Palla swam up against the powerful flow to undertake a pilgrimage to Sadh Belo — an island in the Indus near Lansdowne Bridge and the Sukkur Barrage — to pray to the saint.

“But it seems the saint is not happy with the people these days, so he left the island. So the fish too has stopped visiting Indus,” a fisherman of Thatta district in the Indus delta tells thethirdpole.net.

Before the barrages and dams were built, historians have recorded Palla catches as far upstream as Multan, over 1,000 km upstream from the mouths of the Indus.

Traditionally, adult Palla swam upstream from the Arabian Sea into the Indus every March and April — earlier than its cousins in Bangladesh and India. Fishermen waited for them. That Palla catch was considered most important by the fishermen of Sindh, because it earned them more money than they did over the rest of the year.




Banned gill nets can be seen everywhere in the Indus delta [image by Amar Guriro]

But since the building of the Kotri Barrage about 150 km upstream of Karachi in 1955, the Indus does not have sufficient water downstream through the year for the Palla.


“Production of Palla is directly linked to a healthy delta with continued flows of water in its creeks for almost the entire year at its estuary. But with construction of dams and barrages upstream and diversion of water from the river for irrigation, the Indus delta is not receiving water on a regular basis,” Syed Allah Dino Shah, principal scientist at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) Pakistan, tells thethirdpole.net. “So when it is the breeding season, the fish doesn’t find enough water in the Indus estuary to travel upstream. Therefore it has now disappeared from the Indus.”

The Indus has a wide delta — there is the main course of the river plus 17 large creeks, apart from swamps and extensive mudflats. Before the building of the Kotri Barrage, there was a lot more fresh water in this delta, and the Palla often swam upstream through these creeks.

Climate and monsoon

But now apart from the barrage, there is the effect of climate change, which has led to a rise in the sea level and consequent increase in salinity in the estuary. The Indus delta now has a lot of fresh water only by the end of the monsoon, in August or September.

“By August, the breeding season for Palla is over and there is no reason for the fish to enter the Indus,” Shah points out.

According to a study conducted by Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), the annual catch of Palla in the Indus has gone down from 18,000 tonnes in 1995 to 100 tonnes in 2014.

Still praying

Even now, every March fishermen in the delta await a fresh flow from the Indus upstream, so they can greet it by throwing rose petals in the water. As part of the tradition, most annual gatherings at local religious shrines also take place in March, and the fishermen gather for special prayers so that they can have a good Palla harvest.

“Once in the past when the river was full of water, fishermen were holding these gatherings and then they were leaving to catch Palla, which they could do only for a few weeks; but it was bringing money for the whole year,” Muhammad Adam Gandharo, a fisherman and an activist for local fisher communities, tells thethirdpole.net.

Talking about the problems now, Gandharo also criticises the gill nets that have such fine mesh that juveniles are trapped as well. There is a ban on the nets, but a ban that is flouted openly.

PFF chairman Muhammad Ali Shah says, “Not just for the Palla but for the survival of the entire delta, we need to allow freshwater flows downstream of Kotri round the year.” Fishermen, he adds, are leaving the delta in search of other livelihoods in cities like Karachi, and the trend would only accelerate unless there was enough water through the year.

https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/2016/04/16/the-palla-stays-away/

Never tried it. My go to choices for fish are salmon and cod.

Hilsa is called Indian and Bangladeshi Salmon. It is very oily fish. Full of Omega 3 nutrients. extremely nutritious fish.

In India, 'mustard hilsa' dish is most famous. Locally called 'Shorshe Ilish'

In Bangladesh Hilsha fry is most famous

 

[TNT]

Hilsa is Salmon equivalent for East India and Bangladesh. Its unique cooked aroma and taste make it the king of fish. Salmon is Western king of fish. Hilsa is Eastern king of fish.

While trout is king of the north.