Chaittagong: The mother fish of different indigenous species, including ruhi, katol, mrigel and kalbaush, have released eggs in the Halda River, one of the major natural breeding places of fish in South Asia.

The mother fish started releasing fertilised eggs around 1:00am on Friday which continued till the morning, said locals.

Fishermen began collecting the eggs around 2:30am and they procured some 22,680kgs till 8:30am, they said, reports the UNB.

Around 1,000 fishermen in 405 small boats collected the eggs from a 12-14-km area of the river stretching from Hathazari to Rauzan, they said.

Every year, the mother fish release eggs in the Halda River during April-May.

Shafiul Alam, general secretary of Hathazari Uttar Madarsah Machuaghona Hatchery, said the mother fish released sample eggs on Thursday afternoon. ‘Seeing the sample eggs, the fishermen rushed to the river for collecting eggs,’ he said.

Azharul Islam, Hathazari upazila fisheries officer, said separate of their teams are working to take care of the eggs in the hatcheries.

Manzoorul Kibria, a professor of Chittagong University’s Zoology department and president of Halda River Protection Committee, said fishermen collected 22,680 kgs of fish eggs this year, the highest in the last 10 years.

He said around 378 kgs of fish larvae (renu) could be produced from the eggs if everything remains fine. ‘And around 4-5 lakh fish fry will be produced from one kg of larvae,’ he said.

Last year, one kg of renu along with required water was sold at the highest Tk 1 lakh, Manzoorul said, adding that the value of eggs collected this year will be Tk 3.75 crore after four days. ‘Overall, the Halda fish eggs are going to contribute Tk several crore to the national economy,’ he said.

The amount of eggs increased this year as the weather was favourable.

Besides, the government had taken various initiatives and awareness programmes, and provided incentives to the fishermen under the supervision of the Prime Minister’s Office to boost the egg production.