After a 22-day government ban, hilsa fishing resumes in the Padma, the Meghna and other rivers from midnight today, Monday. Md Iftekhar Hossain, public relations officer of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, confirmed this.

He said catching, transporting, storing, marketing, buying, selling and exchanging hilsa had been banned across the country from 4 October until midnight on 25 October, during the fish's main breeding season. With the ban over, fishers can catch hilsa from 12:01am on the night of 25 October, and there will be no further obstacle to fishing.

The Department of Fisheries said that as part of this year's campaign to protect mother hilsa, 1,892 mobile courts were held and 15,388 drives carried out, and 884 lakh metres of illegal nets were seized.

Source: Bangladesh Pratidin. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.