No bar to catch hilsa from today

Hilsa netting resumes today as a 22-day ban on catching the fish ended yesterday.

The directorate of fisheries imposed the restriction on October 1 to ensure safe spawning as well as proper breeding environment and also to keep the mother fish free from any disturbance, said Bimal Chandra Das, Barisal district fishery officer (hilsa).

Azizul Haque, assistant director of Barisal divisional fishery department, claimed that the ban against netting, marketing, and transportation of hilsa was observed successfully across the division.

However, fishermen alleged that they did not get government support as promised.

Israil Pandit, president of Bangladesh Khudra Matasyajibi Samity, said fishermen were supposed to receive 20kg rice each during the 22-day ban, but most of the fishermen did not get the support.   

Anwar Hossain, secretary of the Samity, said fishermen suffered as they did not get the assistance in time. 

On condition of anonymity, a district fishery official admitted that they could not reach out to all the fishermen as the decision to provide rice came late.  

Tanpan Kumar Paul, Barisal district fishery officer, said fishermen in different upazilas will get the due rice allocation within a short time.

During the ban in the division, mobile courts conducted 1,890 drives, seized large amount of hilsa, fined fishermen Tk 13,25100 and destroyed 35.78 lakh metres of nets, according to the fisheries department.