Bangladesh has attained the second position in fresh water fish production in the world surpassing China, Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdur Rahman said on Thursday.

The minister came up with the information while revealing a report of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations titled “The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2024” at a press conference held at the ministry.

“In the last two years, various types of fish, including hilsa, pangas, boal and aair, have contributed significantly to the production of fresh water fish in the country,”.

Bangladesh is the first among 11 countries of the world regarding producing hilsa due to various measures taken by the government, the minister said, adding Bangladesh is a role model in the world for hilsa production.

“According to the report, China's freshwater fish production was 1.46 million tonnes and it ranked 2nd in the world. On the other hand, the production of Bangladesh was 1.25 million tonnes and ranked 3rd place in the world,” the minister said.

Bangladesh's freshwater fish production has increased to 1.32 million from 1.25 million tonnes in the last two years.

He said the government is implementing jatka conservation and hilsa protection campaign to increase the production of hilsa and ensure sustainable production of the fish.

Consequently, the production of hilsa in 2022-2023 fiscal was 571,000 tonnes.

Besides, , the production of various types of fish in 2022-2023 fiscal reached 4.915 million tonnes due to successful implementation of the long-term planning of the government .

The government has set a target to produce 6.5 lakh tonnes of fish within 2030 and 8.5 lakh tonnes of fish by 2041.

Secretary of the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry Syed Mahmud Belal Haider, Additional Secretary Md. Abdul Qayyum, Director General of the Department of Fisheries Syed Md. Alamgir and ministry’s senior officials, among others, were present at the press conference.