Root cause gill net

A ban on jatka fishing is in place. Drives are being regularly conducted to prevent fishermen from catching the hilsa fry. And compensation packages are being provided to affected fishermen.

Yet, the government is not achieving the desired success in jatka conservation, and some government officials believe it was because the illegal use of gill nets could not be stopped.

Even yesterday, more than 7.5 tonnes of jatka was seized in the capital's Karwan Bazar wholesale market, only a day before a weeklong jatka conservation campaign begins today.

The government has banned catching, transporting, stocking and selling of jatka fish (hilsa fry less than 10 inches long) for eight months, starting from November 1 to June 30, to increase the production of hilsa, the national fish that meets up around 13 percent of total fish production in the country.

"We would achieve more success if the government could stop illegal production of gill nets used for catching jatka … This would increase hilsa production manifolds," said a top official of the Department of Fisheries (DoF).

Around 2.25 lakh licensed fishermen out of around 5 lakh in 122 upazilas of 26 districts are getting 40kg rice a month during the ban under the government's compensation scheme.

But statistics show that jatka fishing has been increasing for the last couple of years.

According to government data, 123.20 tonnes of jatka was seized in 2011-12, 122.79 tonnes in 2012-13, 198.56 in 2013-14 while a whopping 183.85 tonnes of hilsa fry was seized in the first four months of the season till February 2015.

The DoF official, who didn't want to be named, said: "Half of the [licensed] fishermen are still not included in the compensation programme ... This could be a reason behind the recent rise in illegal jatka fishing."

During the early morning raid on Karwan Bazar fish market by the Rapid Action Battalion yesterday, 11 people were fined Tk 5,000 each for selling jatka.

Later, the seized fish were distributed to those living in the nearby slums and orphanages, Operations Officer Maruf Ahmed of the Rab-2 told The Daily Star.