The district and upazila task force in Chandpur has arrested 10 fishermen for catching hilsa in defiance of the government ban. Six of them were sentenced to five days' simple imprisonment each, and regular cases were filed against four under the fisheries law.

Sadar upazila assistant fisheries officer Md Mizanur Rahman confirmed the information on Thursday night (31 October).

He said 22,000 metres of current net and 40 kg of hilsa found in the fishermen's possession were seized during the operation. The nets were burned and the hilsa distributed to orphanages.

The jailed fishermen are Md Nasir (35), Saiful Islam (23), Sihab (20), Kabir Hossain (38), Saiful (28) and Rasel Bepari (19).

Those accused in regular cases are Md Liton (30), Monir Hossain (23), Manik (28) and Md Jamal (40). The fishermen are from various villages in Chandpur Sadar and Matlab Uttar upazilas.

H M Iqbal, officer-in-charge (OC) of Chandpur river police station, said the district and upazila task force ran a special operation from Thursday afternoon until 7pm, from the Meghna estuary at Chandpur to Eklaspur in Matlab Uttar upazila. Four fishermen were caught red-handed catching hilsa, and regular cases were filed against them under the fisheries law.

Syed Moshfiqur Rahman, superintendent of police (SP) of the river police's Chandpur region, said: "From the start of the drive we went very close to the fishermen to persuade them to stay away from catching hilsa. Those who still went into the river in breach of the law have been brought to book. We have not spared anyone in protecting hilsa, a national resource."

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