Full length Research paper

Traditional methods of fish drying: An explorative study in Sylhet, Bangladesh

Sabiha Sultana Marine ¹*, Md. Abu Sayeed¹, Partho Protim Barman², Rabeya Begum², Md. Motaher Hossain¹, Md. Tariqul Alam³

¹Department of Fisheries Technology and Quality Control, Faculty of Fisheries, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet-3100, Bangladesh

²Department of Coastal and Marine Fisheries,Faculty of Fisheries, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet-3100, Bangladesh

³Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet-3100, Bangladesh.

E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 19 August, 2014

Abstract 

The present study investigated traditional process of fish drying in three representative fish drying areas in Sylhet district of Bangladesh namely Tuker bazar, Mahtabpur and Amtoli during October 2012 to March 2013. A total of 20 dried fish processors, selected randomly from three sites (6 from Tuker bazar, 8 from Mahtabpur and 6 from Amtoli), were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results showed that in all sites all together 23 species of fish were used for drying purpose. Drying activities generally started from mid-October to mid-March. A substantial amount of income was found to be generated from the fish drying activities as reported by the respondents where 26.31%, 28.94% and 44.73% dried fish  entrepreneurs were found in the income ranges of Tk. 10,000-75,000, 1,00,000-5,00,000 and 6,00,000-10,00,000 respectively. The mean daily wages of male and female labours were Tk. 220 and 70 respectively seems gulf of difference apparently. This study revealed that the fish processors in the studied areas mainly used the traditional methods for drying and substantial improvement was needed at different stages of handling, processing, and transportation of the fresh fish to get the high quality dried fish products. Training of the fish processors on above aspects including hygiene, sanitation, good water quality and raw materials was found very important to ensure high quality dried products for the consumers.

Key Words: Sun drying, fish processing, dried fish, consumers, salting.