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Detailed Ecological Assessment Report 2008 – Keenjhar Lake
3.5.9.2 Introduction
Tenualosa ilisha was first described by Russel (1803) from waters of Vizagapatan
and named it “Palash”. Hamilton 1822 studied systematic status and described it
under the name of Clupondon ilisha; Cuvier 1829, named it Clupea palasah;
Regan (1917) created a new genus Hilsa and included Hilsa like clupeoids of the
Indo-Pacific as Hilsa ilisha with other species Hilsa toli, Hilsa kanagurta; later
Fowler 1941 and Munro 1955 gave Hilsa as a different genus Alosa (Fowler,
1941).
T. ilisha (Palla) is one of the prominent commercial species of Pakistan and has a
wide distribution, India, Bangladesh, Iran, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Iraq and in
the Gulf area. This species is considered a delicacy and has a traditional food
value cooked in various preparations in Sindh. It is sold at high price of 200-500/-
Rupees a piece (one kg). The seasonal ‘Palla’ is liked because of the fatty
contents in their muscles and viscera.
Information on Hilsa started from beginning of 1800 when Russel, 1803 was first
to describe it as “Palla”. Hilsa fisheries started sometimes in 1907 (Qureshi,
1968) by Department of Fisheries, ras and Department of Fisheries, Bengal,
Bihar, Orrisa and Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan). Aitkin 1907 gave an count
on Hilsa sp. from Sindh, later Jonkins 1910 discussed the spawning of Hilsa from
River Indus. Simultaneously Devanesan 1942, Chacko & Gonapati 1949, Chacko
et al., 1948 worked on biology, age and growth of Hilsa ilisha from ras; Kulkarni
(1950) studied population biology, spawning, migration of T. ilisha in Narbado
River; Chacko and Krishnamurthy 1950, Jones & Menon 1951, Jones 1952, Raj
1951, Pillay 1957 & 1958, Nair 1958, Swarup 1959, Ah 1960 studied Hilsa ilisha
from India and Bangladesh (East Pakistan). There after Qureshi 1968, Bhuiyan
1960 and Pillay & Rosa 1963 worked on Hilsa from River Indus. In seventies
some of the works that appeared were of Rajyalakshmi 1973, Nurul Islam 1974
on biology, length weight studies. Al-Nasiri and Al-Mukhtar in 1988 worked on
food and feeding habits and reproduction of Hilsa. Recent works on this species
are by Al-Hassan 1993 and Narejo et al., 1998, 1999 and Panhwar 2006. Al-
Hassan 1993 reviewed various studies of Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) including that
of Pillay & Rosa 1963; Narejo et al., 1999 focused on growth, condition factor and
length-weight relationship of Tenualosa ilisha from River Indus; Panhwar 2006
gave some data on T.ilisha and Hilsa kelee.
Studies on the biology of T. ilisha are Dutt, 1966, described as for Prashad, 1919
that H.ilisha (Ham.) was considered as a fluvial anadromous fish with feeding
grounds in the sea and spawning in freshwater rivers; Further Dutt, 1966
mentioned that Prashad, 1919 and Hora, 1938 did not consider it as true
anadromous fish and that the young ones spend time before maturation along the
deeper parts of the estuaries. There have been reviews of literature that argued
the possibility of Hilsa traveling in sea but presence of their stocks in the
foreshore and shore waters suggest that the stocks are confined to coastal
waters. Pillay 1961 reported spent fish Hilsa from sea 9-12 miles off Veraval (in
Saurashtran, Gujrat state suggesting spawning in sea); T. ilisha is known as
migratory fish ascends River Indus during pre-monsoon and has been observed
till September and some times it has been reported in November also. No
detailed studies have been carried out on this species from River Indus
WWF Pakistan – Indus for All Programme Page 87 of 188