There may be some good news for Bengalis who missed their quota
of hilsa delicacies this year because of the exorbitant price of
the fish. Not only that, the best quality hilsa could seldom be
found in the market. Now a group of scientists — many of them
avowed connoisseurs of the hilsa — is undertaking a study that
would attempt to improve hilsa yield in India. “The hilsa is one
of the most gifted fish varieties. It is extremely tasty and has
a distinct marine flavour,” says Vettath Raghavan Suresh, a
principal scientist at the Central Inland Fisheries Research
Institute (Cifri), in Barrackpore. “Till a few decades ago, the
hilsa was abundant in most major Indian rivers emptying into the
Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. These include the Ganga,
Narmada, Mahanadi, Krishna, Tapti, and Godavari. Today, it is
confined mainly to the Ganga and the Narmada,” says Suresh, who
is coordinating a five-year research project involving
scientists from as many as seven Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (ICAR) labor