Catching, transporting, storing, buying, selling, processing, marketing and exchanging hilsa will be banned across Bangladesh for 22 days, from 8 to 29 October 2026 (23 Ashwin to 13 Kartik 1433), under the Mother Hilsa Conservation Drive 2026. The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock will issue a gazette notification.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the national task force committee on hilsa resource development, chaired by the minister, Amin Ur Rashid, at the ministry on 15 September. The minutes were published on the Department of Fisheries website on 23 September.

The meeting weighed six proposed windows from the Department of Fisheries, the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI), the marine fisheries office and divisional offices. The BFRI director general said 8–29 October was proposed on the basis of research, taking into account the full and new moons of Ashwin, and the institute's chief scientific officer said 60 to 70 per cent of mother hilsa spawn most heavily in this period. Representatives of two fishers' associations agreed.

The drive covers 38 districts along the hilsa's migration route. In 20 of them — Chandpur, Lakshmipur, Noakhali, Feni, Brahmanbaria, Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Barishal, Bhola, Patuakhali, Barguna, Pirojpur, Jhalakathi, Bagerhat, Shariatpur, Dhaka, Madaripur, Faridpur, Rajbari and Munshiganj — all fishing will be banned in rivers, estuaries and the sea, and ice factories will be closed. In the other 18 districts only hilsa fishing in rivers will be banned.

The Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, river police, RAB, BGB, district administrations and the Department of Fisheries will run joint drives and mobile courts, with temporary camps at high-risk spots and night operations. Markets and wholesale sheds across the country, beyond the migration route, will be watched closely.

Registered fishing families receive 25 kg of VGF rice each during the ban. At the meeting a fishers' association asked for the rice to be distributed before the ban begins, the Bhola deputy commissioner proposed paying cash instead of rice, and a director of the Microcredit Regulatory Authority promised a circular deferring fishers' microloan instalments during the ban.

The chair also directed the ministry's secretary to form a committee to set the timing of the drive from next year on.

Photo: Mamun2a / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)

Source: Department of Fisheries