A mobile court sentenced three fishers to jail during the mother hilsa protection drive on the Meghna river in Chandpur. A large quantity of net was also seized.

They were detained on Monday (14 October) in a drive by the Matlab Uttar upazila fisheries office and the Mohanpur and Beltoli river police.

The detained fishers are Md Al Islam Goldar (45), son of A Salam Guldar of Banglabazar in Munshiganj district; Rasel Patwari (25), son of the late Mostafa Patwari of Zahirabad in Matlab Uttar upazila; and Arif Hossain (26), son of Ayub Ali Gazi of the same area.

According to the river police and the fisheries office, the three were detained in a drive on the Matlab Uttar stretch of the Meghna. Some 20,000 metres of current net recovered from them were burnt.

Upazila assistant commissioner (land) and executive magistrate Hillol Chakma, through a mobile court, sentenced the detained fishers to seven days. Two minors were released on a bond.

Matlab Uttar senior upazila fisheries officer Bijoy Kumar Das said this year's drive would be stronger than last time, so that no one could catch mother hilsa from the river during the ban.

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