Hilsa is the dish on which a Bengali household most easily lies to itself. Every market sells it. Almost none of it is what it claims to be. We have, for two seasons now, run a policy on hilsa that costs us money and customers — and we will keep running it.
What overfishing has done
The Hilsa shad (Tenualosa ilisha) has been fished into a state of regulatory crisis. Catch sizes have shrunk; mean fish weight has shrunk further; juvenile catches are common, and counterfeit substitution is endemic.
“Most "hilsa" sold in Kolkata is not. Some is a different fish; much of it is the right species, the wrong size, the wrong river.”
Our policy, plainly
- We allocate hilsa only for a four-week window each season.
- Member households are limited by tier; no on-demand quantity.
- Every fish is over 800 g — never juveniles.
- River of origin is named on the QR tag.
- In a poor year, we say so, and we do not serve it.
Key takeaways
- Hilsa demand has long exceeded honest supply.
- Allocations, not auctions, are the responsible way to ration scarcity.
- Refusing to serve in a poor year is the most informative thing we can do.
