Coastal fishers are being worn down by one ban after another on fishing in the sea, rivers and the Sundarbans. Some seasonal ban is in force for almost the whole year, leaving fishers little chance to fish. To stay in an occupation handed down through generations, they borrow to build nets and boats, but the debts are never repaid. The burden of debt keeps growing, and hardship never leaves them.

An eight-month campaign to protect jatka (young hilsa) began in the sea and the rivers of the Sundarbans on Saturday (1 November). During the campaign no fisher may catch jatka, although they may catch other species with nets other than those used for jatka.

Md Jahidul Islam, senior fisheries officer of Mongla upazila, said a special combing operation is run for 15 days in January and 15 days in February every year to eliminate all kinds of illegal nets from the rivers. Fishers may fish with other nets during this period, but they receive no support while the operation against illegal nets is running.

Every year, fishing in the sea is also closed for 58 days from 15 April to 11 June, the breeding season of all species at sea. No fisher may catch any species in the sea during this period. Card-holding fishers each receive 70 kg of rice, which the fisheries department provides so that fishers stay off the water while fish spawn.

Every October the sea and rivers are closed for 22 days to protect mother hilsa. All nets and fishing are banned in the sea and rivers during these 22 days, and card-holding fishers each receive 25 kg of rice.

Besides these, fishing is restricted every year from 1 November to 30 June to protect jatka. During this long ban, card-holding fishers receive rice in two phases, 80 kg in the first and 80 kg in the second. Fishers may catch fish other than jatka during this time.

The Forest Department also imposes a three-month ban in the Sundarbans, from June to August every year, for the breeding of wildlife, plants and fish. Fishers receive no support at all during this period.

Local fishers Jahid Bepari, Choyon Biswas and Siraj Sikder said: "Our forefathers also worked the river with boats, nets and ropes, and so do we. But now there are not as many fish in the river as before. Forget food, we cannot even earn the money to make nets and boats. The rice we get during the bans is not enough to live on. It is very hard."

Fishers Md Kamal Hossain and Ohidul Sheikh said: "How many more years must we fish to get a fisher card? We have fished the river for 25-30 years but have never got one. Those with cards get at least some help; we get nothing. It is very hard to run our households. We cannot earn enough to educate our children, and they cast nets in the river too."

Fishers A. Rashid and Israfil Boyati said: "There are bans in the sea and rivers in stages all year. During the bans we have to sit idle at home. If we go into the river, the drives take away our nets and boats. We have been in this occupation since childhood and cannot do anything else. If the government arranged alternative work for us, we could at least survive."

Biddut Mondal, president of the Mongla branch of the Jatiya Matsyajibi Samity, said there are about 30,000 fishers in the area, of whom 15,000 are eligible to register, but only a little over 6,000 are registered. The rest keep applying but do not get cards, while many who have cards are not fishers. "So we demand that the Department of Fisheries give cards to genuine fishers. Not all card holders get support, and what they do get is not enough to live on, so the amount of support urgently needs to increase. Unregistered fishers should also be brought under registration quickly, and this needs strict oversight by the higher administration," he said.

Upazila senior fisheries officer Md Jahidul Islam said Mongla has 6,398 registered fishers and more applications are being verified. Fishers receive rice during bans imposed by the Department of Fisheries, but nothing is given during the Forest Department's ban. However, the Forest Department has for the first time taken an initiative to give some support to those affected by its ban, and fishers are expected to receive some help from it from next year, he said.

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