The Department of Fisheries has seized 82,000 metres of illegal current net and 26 kg of hilsa from fishermen catching hilsa in defiance of the ban on the Sugandha and Bishkhali rivers in Jhalakathi. One fisherman was detained.

The day-long drive was carried out on Sunday, October 17.

Fisheries department sources said that although a ban is in force on a 40-kilometre stretch of the Sugandha and Bishkhali rivers, unscrupulous fishermen still try to catch hilsa there. The district and upazila administrations and the fisheries department ran the drive on the rivers jointly. Through 10 mobile courts, 82,000 metres of illegal current net worth Tk 24.6 lakh and 26 kg of hilsa were seized, and one fisherman was detained.

District fisheries officer Ripon Kanti Ghosh said the seized nets were burnt on the riverbank on the orders of the mobile court, and the hilsa were distributed to a local orphanage. The detained fisherman was sentenced to one month in jail.

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