A 65-day ban on catching all kinds of fish, including hilsa, in the Bay of Bengal off the country's south begins at midnight on 19 May, to increase fish production and breeding in the sea. Fishers in Kalapara, Patuakhali, and other areas have already made their preparations to observe it. But even at the last moment, many fishers are returning empty-handed because there are no fish in the sea.

The 65-day sea ban announced by the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock begins at 12 midnight on Sunday and will continue until 23 July.

Talking to fishers on 19 May at Alipur-Mahipur, the two big fish landing centres in Patuakhali, it emerged that the ban on fishing in the Bay of Bengal and adjoining sea will plunge fishers into a crisis of survival. On the one hand there are two bans a year; on the other, fish have been scarce in the sea this year even in the peak season. Burdened with loans and debts, the fishers are in great difficulty.

Fishers will spend a long time without work. The government has allocated 86 kg of rice per fisher for the 65-day ban.

The ban has been imposed in the Bay of Bengal because it is now the breeding season for hilsa and other sea fish. The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock has issued a notification banning all catching, transport and storage of fish in the country's maritime waters during this period.

A Rahim, a fisher from Alipur, said: "It is very hard to run the household with the children. With the NGO loan, the worry keeps me from sleeping. And how will I repay the moneylender's advance? I have lost hope now."

Khabir Mia, master of the trawler Abdullah, said: "Working on the trawler I ran up a debt of Tk 60,000 last year, which I still have not repaid. With the 65-day ban coming again, far from repaying it, the debt will only grow."

Many fishers like him complained that Indian fishers catch fish in Bangladesh's waters every year during the ban, but the administration does nothing. "Otherwise our nets would catch the fish we need," they said.

They demanded one ban a year instead of two, timed to match India's ban period.

Raju Ahmed Raja, general secretary of the Mahipur Aratdar Owners' Association, said: "The government is imposing the ban to increase fish breeding in the sea and in the interest of fishers. But if it wipes out the fishing profession, a crisis will soon arise in this profession. Besides, the breeding time of various species is still a month and a half away. So our demand is that this 65-day ban be pushed back by a month to give the correct breeding time. The ban is mainly for deep-sea trawling, but it is now being imposed on small fishers. We want this law amended."

Kalapara upazila senior fisheries officer Apu Saha said the fishers' demands are being put to the higher authorities, and plans are also under way to increase loans and other facilities for fishers. But any miscreant who tries to fish in the sea during the 65-day ban will certainly be brought to justice, he said.

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