A 22-day government ban on catching hilsa in the Meghna and Tetulia rivers in Bhola has begun, to protect the main breeding season of mother hilsa. The ban, which started from midnight on Saturday (4 October), will last until 12 midnight on 25 October. Following government instructions, thousands of Bhola's fishermen have already returned to shore with their nets, boats, trawlers and all other fishing gear.

On Saturday morning, the fishing villages along the Meghna, including Tulatuli in Bhola Sadar upazila and the Bholar Khal area of Shibpur, were busy. Fishermen had anchored their boats and trawlers and tied them up on the bank. Some were taking the engines off their trawlers and carrying them home, while many were mending nets.

Firoz Majhi and Akbar Majhi, fishermen from Tulatuli, said they had not caught the hilsa they hoped for in the peak season this year. They had only recently started catching fish when the ban arrived, so they returned from the river after dusk on Friday. They complained that they did not get good prices for the fish they did sell.

Fishermen Alamgir Majhi and Chhagir Majhi said they would obey the government ban this year as every year. But they asked the fisheries department to enforce it strictly so that no dishonest fisherman could go out on the river. Since they will be out of work during the ban, the fishermen also asked the government to distribute the rice allocated in their names quickly.

Bhola District Fisheries Officer Md Iqbal Hossain said the district's seven upazilas have about 1.7 lakh registered fishermen, of whom 1,43,438 will get 25kg of rice each during this 22-day ban. "Our work has already begun. We hope rice distribution will start within the next two or three days, and our target is to complete it by 10 October," he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.