Fisheries and livestock adviser Farida Akhter has directed that a committee be formed quickly to fix the timing of the fishing ban.

She gave the directive as chief guest at a workshop on "Re-scheduling the fishing ban period in the Bay of Bengal", held on the morning of Monday, 25 November, in the conference room of the Department of Fisheries.

The adviser said: "Our big problem is that Indian fishermen intrude and fish during the ban period. To stop the intrusion, the Indian government must be informed of this in advance."

To fix the ban period, she proposed that a committee be formed quickly with the Department of Fisheries, the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI), the Coast Guard, the river police, the Navy and others concerned. She stressed setting the correct breeding period and the ban on a scientific basis, and advised BFRI to carry out more research and share its findings with the public.

"Hilsa is our natural resource, a gift of Allah," the adviser said. "After hilsa spawn, they must be given the chance to grow, and we all have a responsibility in this. Fishers are supplying our protein. It is our duty to look after the fishers' interests on one hand and to protect the fish on the other. Even though the supply of fish in the market has risen, and even when enough hilsa is available, prices are not falling. Hilsa catching, supply, marketing and storage are all involved here. We are accountable for whether we can feed the people."

She added: "However we set the fishing ban period in the Bay of Bengal, no measure will work unless we control nets. Drives against net-making firms have already begun, and raids and fines are continuing at various factories in Munshiganj. I will ask the Ministry of Industries not to issue any licence to factories involved in making these nets." She said the capacity of those who fish at sea with trawlers must be increased, and called on them to fish while protecting the country's maritime sovereignty and to protect the sea.

Speakers at the workshop said a ban on fishing for a set period to conserve marine fish stocks and allow undisturbed breeding is an internationally recognised method. Researchers recommended that, as with the safe breeding of mother hilsa and the conservation of jatka, successful breeding and post-breeding protection of marine species would steadily increase the marine catch.

The workshop was chaired by Dr Md Abdur Rauf, additional director general of the Department of Fisheries. Also present were ATM Mostafa Kamal, additional secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock; Suraiya Akhter Jahan, chairman of the Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation; Dr Anuradha Bhadra, director general of BFRI; specialist scientists and various stakeholders.

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