Catching, transporting, storing, marketing, buying, selling and exchanging hilsa was banned across the country from 4 October to midnight on 25 October, the main breeding season of the fish. With the 22-day ban ending at midnight on Monday (25 October), fishers will start catching hilsa again.

According to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, 11,118.88 tonnes of VGF rice were allocated for fishers during this year's ban. The allocation, made in the 2021-22 fiscal year under the government's humanitarian food assistance programme, went to 555,944 fisher families in 151 upazilas of 37 districts who refrained from catching mother hilsa.

This year 27,602 more fisher families were brought under the allocation than in 2020. Each family received 20 kg of rice, and the VGF rice was allocated before the 22-day ban began.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock issued the notification imposing the ban on 26 September. It was made under the Protection and Conservation of Fish Rules, 1985, framed under the Protection and Conservation of Fish Act, 1950, to conserve hilsa stocks.

Source: Banglanews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.