Brahmanbaria Correspondent: Due to complications involving certification from the Department of Fisheries, fish exports to India through the Akhaura land port in Brahmanbaria have been halted indefinitely. From Thursday (20 November) morning, exporters have been unable to export fish. Business owners say that if the issue is not resolved soon, the country will lose at least Tk 1.5 crore in export earnings per day.

According to sources, 50–70 tons of frozen fish are exported to India daily through the Akhaura land port. Various indigenous species—including rui, katla, pangas, tilapia, and pabda—are exported at a price of USD 2.5 per kilogram. For fish and dried fish exports, certification is issued by the Department of Fisheries. Until recently, these certificates were issued manually, but on 13 November, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) instructed that the certification process be shifted online.

However, since the Department of Fisheries has not yet implemented the online system, exporters have been unable to obtain the required bill of entry from Thursday. As a result, fish export activities remain suspended.

Faruk Mia, General Secretary of the Fish Exporters’ Association at Akhaura land port, said that the majority of the port’s export revenue comes from fish exports. “We are paying the price because the online certification system was not implemented as per the NBR directive. Until this complication is resolved, fish exports worth at least Tk 1.5 crore per day will be disrupted, causing the government to lose remittance earnings,” he added.

When contacted, Zakir Hossain, Brahmanbaria District Fisheries Officer, said, “We were not aware of the NBR directive. We learned about it only yesterday. Today we will contact the ministry to resolve the issue urgently.”