A ban on catching all fish, including hilsa, has been declared for 22 days on the Padma and Meghna rivers in Chandpur. It will run from midnight on 12 October to 3 November. During this period the transport, buying, selling, storage and exchange of hilsa will be banned across the country, and a campaign to protect mother hilsa will be carried out at the same time.

Sources said no fisherman may go into the river during the ban along a 100-kilometre stretch of the Meghna from Shatnol to Char Alexander in Lakshmipur. Anyone catching or selling hilsa during the ban faces up to two years' rigorous imprisonment, a fine of up to Tk 5,000, or both.

Meanwhile, more than half a lakh fishermen along the Padma and Meghna are preparing to haul their nets and boats ashore. They are worried about how to feed their families during the ban, and have demanded financial support from the government in addition to food aid.

Babul, a fisherman from Harinaghat on the Meghna in Chandpur Sadar upazila, said: "Some fishermen don't obey the ban. We won't be able to fish for 22 days, but nobody keeps track of how we get by with our families. The rice they give us does nothing on its own. You need other things with rice. Where will we get the money for that?"

The fishermen added: "We have to live on loans and instalment money. We can't pay for our children's schooling. Nobody hears our worries, which is why many fishermen are forced to go into the river. We don't want government rice."

Md Abu Kawsar Didar, scientific officer at the Chandpur River Centre, said conditions were favourable for spawning this year, as in previous years.

Chandpur Deputy Commissioner (DC) Mohammad Mohsin Uddin said the hilsa fishing ban would be strictly enforced this year, and strict action would be taken against any fisherman who went into the river during the ban.

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