Ban on Catching Hilsa: Rajshahi raids surprise many
Hilsa population in the Rajshahi region fell drastically in the early 1990s as the mouthwatering fish stopped migrating to the Padma, largely due to overfishing of brood hilsas and fall in the water level in the once-mighty river.
Later on, the fish almost disappeared from the river.
However, thanks to government conservation efforts, it started to return to the Padma last year, and to ensure that the silver fish does not disappear again, the local administration is carrying out raids at several places of the district amid the ongoing ban.
“We noticed the revival of hilsa in the Padma from last year. We are conducting raids to prevent fishermen from catching the fish amid the ban,” said Subash Chandra Saha, district fisheries officer.
The government imposed a countrywide ban on fishing, selling, hoarding and transport of hilsa from October 12 to November 2.
Defying the ban, a section of fishermen in Bagha, Charghat, Rajshahi sadar and Godagari upazilas, however, are fishing hilsa with current nets in the Padma.
The silver fish is being sold in remote areas of the city and other places at Tk 850 per kg, reports our correspondent quoting locals.
On Monday, a mobile court led by Executive Magistrate Samar Kumar Pal seized 40kg of hilsa worth Tk 10,000 and 4,000 meters of current nets worth Tk 2.5 lakh from five places of the Padma river in Rajshahi.
Later, the nets were set on fire on the river bank and the fish was distributed among orphans of Chhotomoni Nibash near Bornali intersection and Shishu Paribar at Baya, said Samar.
During the four-hour drive, the mobile court drove some 27 kilometres from Bottoli to Godagari in a motorboat and recovered the current nets with the fish.
The fishermen could not be identified as no one came to claim the nets.
Samar said fishermen were netting hilsa using a new tactic. They tie two small plastic containers at the corners of the long nets and throw them into the Padma water.
“It is quite difficult to identify the nets as you can only see the containers, not the nets from far,” he said.
Subash also said they so far launched 11 mobile court drives this season in which 137kgs of hilsa and 1,35,775 metres of nets worth Tk 23.85 lakh were seized. In most of the cases, those responsible could not be identified.
Meanwhile, many locals, talking to The Daily Star, expressed their surprise at the recovery of such a huge quantity of hilsa from Rajshahi which had seen a dearth of hilsa in the past.
ALLEGATION AGAINST A BARISAL UNO
The Barisal district administration has opened an investigation into an allegation that an Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) took hilsas to her home, which were seized during mobile court raids.
The UNO rejected the allegation.
Babuganj Upazila Women Vice Chairman Ishrat Jahan Tapashi told our Barisal correspondent that following raids on October 21-23, her neighbour, UNO Afroza Begum Parul, stored a huge quantity of fish in her refrigerator. She even distributed some among her relatives.
Tapashi said she also informed the deputy commissioner of the matter. “Deputy Commissioner Gazi Mohammad Saifuzzaman asked me to prove the allegation,” she said.
“I had gone to the UNO's residence and saw some people trying to take two bags of hilsa from there. As I tried to see what was in there, a scuffle took place and all the fish got scattered on the floor.”
Later, the UNO called some staff of a local orphanage and gave them the fish to distribute those among orphans, she added.
The local administration formed a committee, headed by Additional District Magistrate Zakir Hossain, to investigate the incident.
Contacted, the UNO refuted the allegation, saying Tapashi was making a false allegation against her over a personal enmity.
“I had just returned home with the seized fish and informed the local orphanage to come and take the fish. However, Tapashi came from nowhere and started to chant slogans against me.
“At one point, she locked the main gate of my house from outside,” she said, adding that she informed the higher authorities of the matter.
A few months ago, Parul served a notice upon Tapashi to vacate her house, claiming that she was living there illegally.
Additional District Magistrate Zakir Hossain said Tapashi was asked to file a written complaint against the UNO, which she did not.
He also said the matter seemed to be a result of an enmity between the two.
Meanwhile in Chandpur, 4 boys, aged between 12 and 14, were detained for netting hilsa in the Meghna river in Rajeshwar area, reports our Chandpur correspondent.
Shafiqur Rahman, district fisheries officer, said they released the boys after taking TK 2,000 from each of their guardians in fine.
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