Four tonnes 'jatka' seized from truck in Barisal

Rapid Action Battalion seizes four tonnes of jatka from Rahmatpur in Babuganj upazila in Barisal district as a section of unscrupulous fishermen have continued defying a government ban on catching young hilsa for seven months from November 1.Photo: STAROur Correspondent, Barisal

A Rapid Action Battalion (Rab-8) team on Wednesday night seized 'jatka' (hilsa fry less than 9 inches in length) weighing around four tonnes from a truck on Barisal-Dhaka highway at Babujang point of the district.

Major Rashidul Islam of Rab said, acting on a tip-off, they raided the Dhaka bound truck from Barisal Port Road at around 10:00 pm.

The elite force also arrested truck driver Samsu and his associates Shahazan and Ansar Ali.

An official at Barisal office of the fisheries department yesterday filed a case with Kotwali police station against four people including fish merchant Joyanto Das.

As fishermen have continued catching 'jatka' defying the government ban on it, the seized 'jatka' would be auctioned off in presence of administrative and fisheries officials, said the Rab officials.

A seven-month ban on catching 'jatka' went into effect in all hilsa regions of the country from November 1, sources said.

Bankim Chandra, assistant director of Barisal office of the fisheries department told The Daily Star that hilsa fries grow 2-2.5 cm per month and start moving towards sea after reaching 15-17 cm in length.

'Jatka' start return journey to sweet water rivers after growing 25-28 cm, each weighing around 300-450 gram, for laying eggs, he informed.

So, if only 10-20 per cent of 'jatka' could be saved from catching, then hilsa resources of around of two lakh tonnes worth hundreds of crores of taka could be increased every year, said the official.

Hilsa resources doubled in last 14 years as catching of hilsa was 1.47 lakh metric tonnes in 1983; 2.20 lakhs MTs in 2002, 2.8 lakh MTs in 2007 and more than 3 lakh MTs in 2008, he added.