Although a 22-day ban is in force for the hilsa breeding season, fishing goes on all night on the Padma and Meghna in Munshiganj. Some fishers cast their nets after dusk and keep fishing until dawn. Floating markets spring up on the banks, and buyers from far away come to buy the fish.
All fishing is banned from 8 to 29 October in Munshiganj and 19 other districts, as are catching, transporting, storing and selling hilsa. According to Samakal's report, raids by the fisheries department and the local administration usually run from 9 am to 4 pm, and fishers head out as soon as the teams leave the river.
Hilsa were seen being traded at floating markets at Ismanirchar and Kalirchar on the Meghna, Banglabazar in Sadar upazila, Dighirpar and Hasail in Tongibari, Kalma, Kumarbhog, Singherhati and Bejgaon in Louhajang, and Baghra and Bhagyakul in Sreenagar. Upstream of the Padma Bridge, more than a hundred boats are alleged to be catching brood hilsa near the Louhajang-Tongibari boundary and at the Sidarchar point.
A mobile court has jailed eight people after raids on markets at Baghrarchar in Sreenagar and Kalma in Louhajang, but the fishing has not stopped. A buyer who did not want to be named said many people travel a long way to buy hilsa on the riverbank because it is cheap.
An official of the Louhajang upazila administration said regular raids are under way and people selling at the floating markets are being identified so that action can be taken against them.
District fisheries officer Golam Mehedi Hasan said each fishing family has been given 25 kg of rice so households can manage during the ban, yet some fishers are still going out. Raids are held every day, and by Saturday 30 to 35 people had been given jail terms of various lengths without hard labour.
Reporting: Kazi Sabbir Ahmed Dipu, Munshiganj, Samakal
Photo: Nurunnaby Chowdhury (Hasive) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0); a fishing boat on the Meghna, for illustration
Source: Samakal
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