Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha), also known as Hilsa shad (family Clupeidae), is a premium table fish of India (Dutta et al., 2021). It contributes to the cultural, societal, and economic significance of West Bengal in the eastern region of India and Assam and Tripura in the north-eastern region (Hossain et al., 2020). Salt-fermented Hilsa, locally known as lonailish, is a relished delicacy in the north-eastern region (Majumdar et al., 2016). Hilsa is a rich source of omega-3 PUFAs, EPA, DHA, and high-quality proteins (Sahoo et al., 2018). Apart from India, Hilsa is biologically, nutritionally, economically, socially, and culturally significant in Bangladesh, Myanmar, and the Persian Gulf (Rahman et al., 2020; Ahmed et al., 2021). Hilsa is found in rivers, estuaries, and coastal waters. The deltaic habitats of river Ganga spanning the northern Bay of Bengal is a rich source of Hilsa fishery, the life cycle of Hilsa being partially marine (Lauria et al., 2018) and anadromous in nature. In fact, the highest catch of Hilsa in India comes from the deltaic Ganga region in the coastal Bay of Bengal (Suresh et al., 2017). The primary distribution of this fish species in India lies in the Bhagirathi–Hooghly component of the Ganga River system (Bhaumik, 2017; Chacraverti, 2021).

Hilsa fisheries provide a high social impact in the Ganga–Brahmaputra–Meghna basin of the northern part of the Bay of Bengal because of its high abundance, where 250 million people, directly and indirectly, depend on this species. In Bangladesh, the non-consumptive value of Hilsa has been reported to range from USD 167.5 million to USD 355.7 million per annum, where poor people place the highest value on Hilsa fishery restoration (Mohammed et al., 2016). It is the source of livelihood for 0.46 million fishers of West Bengal in India. The consumption of Hilsa is culturally significant for the Bengali community in weddings, festivities, and religious ceremonies. There are also indigenous knowledge bases related to Hilsa that if the winds blow from the east, Hilsa will be available in large quantities (Sharma et al., 2019).

The major producers of Hilsa in the world are Bangladesh (76%), Myanmar (15%), and India (4%), contributing 95% of the global Hilsa catches (Hossain et al., 2020). The remaining 5% is shared by Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Thailand, Myanmar, and Pakistan. If the recently available data for capturing fisheries from FAO in 2021 are taken into account, it is further estimated that the share of Bangladesh to global Hilsa production has increased to 97.01% and that of India has shrunk to 2.41% (FAO, 2023). The global average production of Hilsa was about 5.83 lakh tonnes in 2021, with Bangladesh having the highest production of 5.65 lakh tonnes (FAO, 2023). The annual production of Hilsa in India in 2021 was 0.14 lakh tonnes (FAO, 2023; Supplementary material). It was estimated that Hilsa contributes 14% to the fish catch of river Hooghly and 23% to that of the Narmada estuarine system (Suresh et al., 2017). The northern Bay of Bengal and its associated river systems contribute to 90% of Hilsa catch in the country (CMFRI, 2016). Hilsa accounts for 12.5% of the fish catch (Hossain et al., 2019) in West Bengal in India. A significant chunk of the Hilsa population is also found along the Narmada and Tapti estuaries. Hilsa was also reported as available in Mahanadi estuary (Jhingran and Natarajan, 1969; Suresh et al., 2017), river Brahmaputra (Vass and Moza, 2011; Suresh et al., 2017; Yadav et al., 2022a,b), river Narmada (Suresh et al., 2017; Bhakta et al., 2018), river Tapti (Suresh et al., 2017), Vallabh Sagar (Ukai) reservoir (Suresh et al., 2017), river Godavari (Raj, 1917; Chacko and Krishnamurthy, 1948; Chacko and Ganapati, 1949; Chacko and Krishnamurthy, 1950; Chacko, 1954; Suresh et al., 2017), Chilika lagoon (Suresh et al., 2017), river Cauvery (Jones, 1959; Swayamprakash, 2014), and river Krishna (Jones, 1959). Although Hilsa was a lucrative fishery in all such riverine resources, the construction of dams and barrages resulted in the decline of Hilsa catch in most of the rivers (Supplementary material).

Hilsa fisheries are traditionally open-access in nature. The fisher communities attribute high value to the fish because of its excellent taste and high nutritional value. Hilsa production from inland waters has been reported to be stable during the last two decades, but an increase in marine yields has been observed in the Bay of Bengal regions (Sajina et al., 2020). A decline in the catch of Hilsa has been reported in the Hooghly–Bhagirathi River system for the last two decades (Khatua et al., 2020). The Hilsa fishers of West Bengal undertake Hilsa fishing as their secondary occupation. The production in West Bengal declined from 80,000 t to 20,000 t over 10 years since 2001 (Sahoo et al., 2018). Commercial, environmental deterioration and interest-group threats from anthropogenic impacts such as siltation in the estuary mouth of the Hooghly–Bhagirathi River system obstructing Hilsa migration into the estuarine system, impact of barrages and dams causing the decline of Hilsa in the upper reaches, juvenile fishing, exploitation of brood fish, lack of compliance with mesh size regulation, ineffective fish passes, loss of habitat with increased water abstraction for irrigation and industrialization, pollution, and climate change have resulted in the decline of Hilsa production in India (De et al., 1994, 2001; Bhaumik, 2017; Sahoo et al., 2018). The total landing of Hilsa at Farakka declined gradually from 31.8 to 34.4 tonnes during 1994–1997 to as low as 6.3–6.8 tonnes during 1994–1995 to 2000–2002 (Yadav, 2022).

Hilsa fisheries of West Bengal in India are under the jurisdiction of the State Government of West Bengal (Bandara and Wijewardene, 2023). The management measures that have been followed by the State Government are mesh size regulation in the use of gill nets in the way that only 90–110 mm gill net should be used and that monofilament gill nets below 90 mm mesh size and other nets with mesh size below 40 mm are banned; Hilsa fishing ban period for 10 days in the month of September or October (revolves around 14 September and 24 October depending on lunar cycles) and a general fishing ban on all kinds of fishes in the state from 15 April to 15 June; and mass awareness creation for Hilsa conservation from 2010 onwards. Harvesting, transporting, marketing, and selling Hilsa with less than the body size of 23 cm (through bag net, scoop net, lift net, and small meshed gill nets), especially from February to April every year, is illegal in West Bengal. Fishing of Hilsa is prohibited within 5 sq. km of the Farakka barrage around the year to facilitate brooders spawning in the area. The market value of Hilsa is increasing rapidly due to low availability because of overfishing in West Bengal. The commissioning of the Farakka barrage at Murshidabad in the 1970s caused a drastic decline and consequent depletion of the Hilsa population from the upstream of river Ganga, which was once available in plenty up to Allahabad (now known as Prayagraj).

Comprehensive socio-economic studies of Hilsa fishers in India are lacking, and more socio-economic studies in Hilsa fisheries have been encouraged (Miah, 2015; Supplementary material). Therefore, considering Hilsa as a commercially and culturally important fish but with a significantly declining catch, the socio-economic condition of Hilsa fishermen in river Hooghly of the Ganga River system is deemed essential to analyze the sustainability of Hilsa fisheries. In this background, a hypothesis was developed to examine if the Hilsa fisheries of river Hooghly in the deltaic Ganga region of India are lucrative enough to sustain the livelihood of Hilsa fishers. The objectives were to (i) analyze the sustainability of Hilsa fisheries toward the livelihood of artisanal fishers in the light of the socio-economic conditions of the fishers in river Hooghly and (ii) examine the impact of Farakka barrage on Hilsa fishers along with conservation and management of Hilsa fisheries in West Bengal. Our study was carried out through structured questionnaires by interviewing the Hilsa fishers of river Hooghly in West Bengal with respect to their socio-economic conditions during 2020–2021.

Hilsa fishers of river Hooghly have been vulnerable to commercial threats (creation of dams and barrages and developmental activities), environmental deterioration threats (deterioration of habitat and pollution), and interest group threats (indiscriminate juvenile catching, overexploitation, non-compliance with regulatory measures, and use of small mesh sized fishing gears), resulting into declining production, uncertain income, and occupational shift. Although Hilsa fish have enormous socio-economic and cultural significance for the Bengali community, the traditional Hilsa fishers no longer depend solely on Hilsa fisheries for livelihood but look forward to other fisheries to secure higher income. The sustainability of the artisanal Hilsa fisheries needs to be looked into to support the livelihood of the fishers. The Farakka barrage commissioned in 1971 altered river Ganga’s flow and salinity patterns, affecting Hilsa migration and causing a remarkable decline in Hilsa catch in the upper stretches of Ganga. This has created pressure on the fishery resource, for which recent initiatives have been taken to increase the Hilsa population upstream of the Farakka barrage. The fact that Hilsa was once available in the different river systems of the country and then suffered huge setbacks owing to the construction of dams and barrages needs to be considered in the management and policy decisions for the sustenance and development of Hilsa fisheries. From the study, the occupational shift was observed where traditional Hilsa fishers have shifted to non-fishery activities such as rickshaw driving, shopkeeping, fruit selling, tea shop, nut selling, and vegetable retailing. Since Hilsa fishing is a family business, more involvement of women would be profitable. The management and conservation rules pertaining to Hilsa fisheries policies have to be strictly implemented and monitored through mesh size regulation of gill net, Hilsa fishing ban period (for 10 days in September or October depending on lunar cycles), ban of juvenile catching of Hilsa with body size less than 23 cm, and prohibition of Hilsa fishing within 5 sq. km of the Farakka barrage round the year. Considering the high market demand for Hilsa in the eastern and north-eastern regions of India and the market complexities, more significant investments need to be channeled into the Hilsa fisheries of the northern Bay of Bengal region. Such investments encompass a wholesome approach, including more governmental initiatives for conservation and management. The study provides scope for an enhanced understanding of the factors that would drive the revival of Hilsa fisheries in river Hooghly and supplement the livelihood of fishers in the deltaic Ganga region.

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, upon request.

The experiment conducted in the present study has been passed through the institute’s ethical committee, and the committee approved the carry out the experiment sampling of fish and its handling were performed as per the instruction laid by the ethical committee.

HC: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Formal analysis. PD: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. AK: Investigation, Writing – review & editing. SN: Investigation, Writing – review & editing. CJ: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Software, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. AS: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. BD: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.