Fishers caught taking mother hilsa during the breeding-season ban will be jailed for at least six months and have their fisher cards cancelled, Chandpur deputy commissioner Ahmed Ziaur Rahman said on Thursday at a meeting of the district task force for the Mother Hilsa Conservation Drive 2026, Dhaka Mail reports.
Catching, transporting, storing, marketing and buying or selling hilsa will be banned nationwide for 22 days from 8 to 29 October. In Chandpur, the administration, fisheries department, river police and coast guard will jointly patrol the roughly 70 km sanctuary of the Padma and Meghna from Shatnal in Matlab Uttar to Charbhairabi in Haimchar.
The meeting decided to block the mouths of canals joining the river in the sanctuary and to set up five temporary police camps. Fishers who stay off the river will receive 25 kg of food aid each, 41,390 of them in the district, the deputy commissioner said, and steps will be taken so they are not pressed for loan instalments during the ban.
District fisheries officer Md Fakhrul Islam said ice factories will be closed for the 22 days, no dredger will be allowed on the river, and outside fishers will be watched closely. Eight or nine important canal mouths in the sanctuary are to be blocked, district police will set up road checkpoints, and a quick response team will stand by for any trouble.
There is no room for leniency in enforcing the law, the deputy commissioner said, and everyone including elected representatives along the Meghna must cooperate. Keeping Chandpur's name as the 'home of hilsa' depends on safe spawning, he said.
Photo: Nurunnaby Chowdhury (Hasive) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Dhaka Mail
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