Neither the Department of Fisheries nor the Directorate of Health, not even the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) has any policy for import of fish.

Although fisheries department strictly controls the quality of the fishes they export under Fish and Fish Product (inspection and quality control) Law '97, there is no provision or instruction or regulation to inspect or test the quality of imported fishes.

The BSTI Ordinance 1985 (amended into an act in 2003) gives instructions to test standards of 145 food products but fish and fish products are not included in the list.

BSTI officials said they had to depend on the City Corporation Food Ordinance 1959, Pure Food Rules 1967 and DCC Ordinance 1985 (amended in 2005) during their recent drives in the fish markets to punish the traders selling fishes treated with toxic chemicals including formalin.

They have to go outside their jurisdiction to conduct drives against toxic fish, BSTI officials said, adding that the rules should be more strict.

Fisheries department officials said the government does not want to recognise import of fish into the country fearing that the country might lose its right to tax holiday, which it enjoys as an exporter of fish to Europe and America.

"Bangladesh gets tax holiday for exporting fish to Europe and America. Any country importing fish from other countries are not allowed to get such facility," said a fisheries department official requesting anonymity.

BSTI during its recent drives found almost all the fishes imported from Myanmar treated with toxic formalin.

No official record was found from any of the departments concerned about the importers of fish to Bangladesh and the amount of annual import.

Unofficial sources said two importers -- Babul, owner of Sunmoon Enterprise in Moheshkhali, Cox's Bazar and Masud Ahmed, owner of Masud Enterprise in Potia, Chittagong -- import around 70 thousand kg of fishes and supply them to different markets in the country.

A ship carrying fishes from Myanmar anchor at Teknaf port wherefrom the fishes are sent to different markets including Dhaka.

On Saturday, a mobile court led by Metropolitan Magistrate Rokon Ud-Doula, seized around 6.5 tonne formalin-treated fish and 187 kg jatka (small hilsa) from the wholesale fish markets at Swarighat, Kaptan Bazar and Waizghat in the capital. The fishes were mostly from Myanmar.

Mokhles, one of traders caught by the joint forces during the drive at Swarighat, introduced himself as an employee of Masud Enterprise.

He produced papers to the court that show that Myanmar Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries and Myanmar export control section certified those fishes as 'edible'.

Mokhles, who failed to produce any papers of Bangladesh government, however, said if there is any formalin in those fishes it was put in Myanmar before dispatch.

He also produced a paper provided by the Department of Pharmacy of Dhaka University signed by Prof ABM Faruque and Dr Abu Sara Shamsur Rauf on February 02 that says these fishes are 'free from formalin and edible'.

When contacted, Prof Faruque said he provided the certificate to Biojit Morol, a producer working at private television channel Banglavision, as the three samples of fish sent to the department were found to be formalin-free.

"At first we informed him [Biojit] verbally that the samples were free from formalin. As he insisted on giving a certificate saying that he needed it to produce at his office, we consented," said Prof Faruque.

He expressed his wonder at the certificate's going to the traders.

When asked about the matter, Biojit said he handed over the report to the traders without thinking of the consequences.

An amount of fish is also smuggled into the country, sources said.

The government is going to formulate new rules for Fish and Fish Products (inspection and quality control) Law modifying the existing one, but the new draft too lacks any rules for importing fish, fisheries department officials said.

Admitting the gravity of the problem caused by formalin-treated fishes, Director General of the Department of Fisheries Nazrul Islam said he will raise the issue at the upcoming meeting of the committee working for a new law.

There should be strict law on formalin issue and policy on fish import, he said.

Even in absence of strict laws for imported fish, BSTI, health department and the city corporations could test the standard of all foods including fish under the existing laws.

Govt makes formalin test of fish mandatory The government has decided to make formalin test mandatory for imported fish that will come into effect with the test of formalin presence in fish at Teknaf land port from today.