Production Halved at Bangladesh’s Largest Dried Fish Hub

The Cox’s Bazar coast remains sweltering under the intense summer heat. The sky is dominated by blazing sunshine, and although occasional signs of nor’westers have appeared, heavy rainfall has yet to arrive. While such weather is ideal for dried fish production, the usual bustle was noticeably absent this season at Nazirartek in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh’s largest dried fish production center.

The recently concluded dried fish season, which runs from November to April, ended amid disappointment and uncertainty. Post-season assessments show that the industry, which once revolved around a trade worth approximately Tk 350 crore to Tk 400 crore, has now shrunk to below Tk 200 crore. A severe shortage of marine fish reduced production, while a lack of raw materials effectively cut the scale of the dried fish business in half.

Most drying racks now sit empty at the Nazirartek dried fish village in Cox’s Bazar city. According to traders and workers, a shortage of raw fish throughout the season dealt a major blow to production.

Field observations toward the end of the season found that at least 600 of the nearly 700 dried fish processing units had effectively become inactive. Despite adequate sunshine, labor, and infrastructure, most traders were forced to halt production due to a shortage of fish.

Abu Morshed Chowdhury Khoka, former president of the Cox’s Bazar Chamber of Commerce, said, “The crisis will deepen further in the coming years unless we ensure modern fish-drying technology, improved storage facilities, quality control, environmentally friendly fishing practices, and worker protection.”

Jainal Abedin, president of the Cox’s Bazar Marine Dried Fish Producers Cooperative Society, said, “The season has ended, and the drying racks are almost empty.”

Mohammad Shahabuddin, who has worked in the dried fish industry for more than a decade, said, “There was sunshine, there were workers, there were drying racks, but there were no fish. How can dried fish be produced without fish?”

Women have long played a significant role in Nazirartek’s dried fish industry. They contribute extensively to fish cleaning, sorting, arranging fish on drying racks, and processing. However, they have been among the hardest hit by the decline in work opportunities.

Worker Ayesha Begum said, “I used to get work almost every day. Now I have to sit idle for many days. How can I support my family without income?”

At various times during the season, at least 40,000 workers became partially or fully unemployed. A large portion of them are women and members of coastal families displaced by climate change.

Fishermen claim that the recent increase in jellyfish populations in the sea has also reduced the normal presence of fish. As a result, many trawlers returned empty-handed.

Abul Hasan, a fisherman from Kutubdia, said fuel shortages in March and April disrupted deep-sea fishing operations. The few trawlers that managed to venture into the sea also failed to catch the expected quantity of fish.

The decline in production has also reduced dried fish supplies in local markets. As a result, prices of various dried fish species increased by Tk 200 to Tk 500 per kilogram during the last season. Prices of dried loitta, ribbonfish, pomfret, coral fish, and other varieties are currently higher than in the previous year.

In addition to the domestic market, dried fish from Cox’s Bazar is exported to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and several countries in the Middle East.