After a two-month ban to protect jatka (young hilsa), fishers are ready to return to the rivers. The two-month ban on fishing in the Padma and Meghna in Chandpur ends at midnight today. Having repaired boats and mended nets, fishers are waiting with high hopes to catch hilsa.

Under the jatka protection programme to conserve hilsa, all fishing was banned in March and April in six river sanctuaries, including 70 kilometres of the Padma and Meghna in Chandpur. During the ban, catching, transporting, selling and storing fish are completely prohibited. The local administration, river police, fisheries department, coast guard and district police ran joint drives round the clock to keep fishers off the rivers, and fishers who broke the law were jailed or fined.

Majib Dewan, a fisher from Anandabazar on the bank of the Meghna in Chandpur Sadar, said: "We stayed away from fishing for two months. The wait is over and we are ready. We are putting our boats and nets in the river and will go fishing when the time comes."

Fishers said they had to live on loans during the two months. The rice the government gave was not enough to feed their families, and they got through the ban with great difficulty. If they go out now and do not find hilsa, their hardship will be endless.

Chandpur Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Mohsin Uddin said this year's jatka protection drive had been very successful, so hilsa production will rise, and the fishers alone will benefit.

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