In Chandpur, 209 fishermen have been given jail terms of various lengths for catching jatka (young hilsa) in the Padma-Meghna river sanctuary in defiance of the government ban. Fines of Tk 4,69,900 were also collected from them.

Chandpur District Fisheries Officer Mohammad Fakhrul Islam confirmed the information on the night of 30 April.

According to a report sent to the media, district and upazila task forces carried out 609 drives from 1 March to 30 April along the 70-kilometre sanctuary on the Padma and Meghna, from Shatnal in Matlab Uttar upazila to Char Bhairabi in Haimchar upazila.

Thirty-six mobile courts sat to sentence and fine the fishermen caught. They were run by the upazila nirbahi officers of Matlab Uttar, Sadar and Haimchar and by executive magistrates from the deputy commissioner's office.

The two-month drive seized 5.035 tonnes of jatka and 0.742 tonnes of other fish, along with 0.020 lakh metres of hilsa nets, 11.778 lakh metres of current nets and 0.328 lakh metres of other nets.

Mohammad Fakhrul Islam said 237 cases were filed over fishermen detained in the district and task force drives in Matlab Uttar, Sadar and Haimchar upazilas. Seized boats in Matlab Uttar upazila were auctioned for Tk 28,000. The seized nets were burnt, and the fish were given to local orphanages, madrasas and the destitute.

He said the district and upazila task forces ran drives day and night to raise hilsa production and protect jatka. This will help reach the national hilsa production target of 6 lakh tonnes, he said, and fishermen in coastal areas who stay away from catching jatka will reap the benefit.

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