The assistant commissioner (land) of Damudya upazila and the Gosairhat upazila fisheries officer faced an attack by fishermen while on a drive to protect mother hilsa in Gosairhat, Shariatpur.

The incident happened around noon on Tuesday 14 October at the mouth of Mostafa Dhalir Khal, a branch of the Meghna, in the Char Jalalpur area of Alaulpur union in the upazila.

The upazila fisheries department said that for several days some unscrupulous fishermen and traders had been catching hilsa in the river at Char Jalalpur in defiance of the breeding-season ban. On Tuesday morning, acting on a tip-off while fish was being sold, Damudya upazila assistant commissioner (land) Tariqul Islam and Gosairhat upazila fisheries officer Abul Kashem Nirob raided the area. The traders took the fish on a trawler into Mostafa Dhalir Khal and moved it away.

As the administration and fisheries officials were bringing back the seized trawler, the traders tried to attack them. The assistant commissioner (land) and the fisheries officer then managed to get away tactfully.

Abul Kashem Nirob, the senior fisheries officer of Gosairhat upazila, said an organised gang had been selling fish caught in the Meghna at Char Jalalpur in defiance of the ban. "We got the news and raided the place, but they sensed it and moved the fish away. As we were leaving after seizing the trawler, a number of people suddenly came at us and tried to attack. But we tactfully left with the trawler. We will carry this drive through successfully," he said.

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