Love for hilsa is driving residents of Cooch Behar, especially those living in Mathabhanga sub-division of the district, to the Mansai river for the past couple of days.
A number of fishermen casting their nets in the Mansai have caught hilsa. In Cooch Behar, it is rare to find this fish in any river.
“In north Bengal, hilsa is netted only in the Ganga that cuts Malda and Murshidabad. This is the first major catch in recent years as around 100kg of the fish has been taken out of the river in the past two-three days,” said Fulkumar Namadas, a fisherman.
Experts pointed out that the Mansai flows from Mathabhanga to Sitai (also in Cooch Behar) and enters Bangladesh to merge with the Brahmaputra. “The Brahmaputra, on the other hand, is connected with the Padma. It seems that a shoal of hilsa has moved along this route and entered the Mansai,” Ruma Dey, a geology teacher in Cooch Behar, said.
The fishermen who have netted hilsa said most were of smaller sizes — around 600gm or less.
