To protect hilsa, all kinds of fishing will be banned for two months in six river zones, including the Padma and Meghna at Chandpur, and in Shariatpur, Lakshmipur, Barishal and Bhola. The two-month ban starts after midnight on Friday (28 February) and will run until 30 April.

Fishers will receive rice as food aid during the ban. The government will give 160 kg of rice each, in four instalments, to 40,005 registered fishers. During this time fishers will repair their boats and nets.

Fishers caught fishing in breach of the ban face at least one to two years in jail, or a fine of up to Tk 5,000, or both.

Since 2006, the government has banned all fishing in the rivers in March and April to increase hilsa production and let jatka move safely.

During the ban, casting nets, catching, buying, selling, storing and transporting fish is completely banned along 70 kilometres from Shatnal in Matlab Uttar upazila of Chandpur to Char Bhairabi in Haimchar upazila.

The district task force has already made all preparations to enforce the sanctuary. The district administration, fisheries department, river police, Coast Guard and Navy will run regular drives for the two months.

Shah Jahan Gazi and Shafiq Akhand, fishers on the Meghna bank at Ranagoal, Puran Bazar in Chandpur Sadar, said: "The government has banned fishing for two months, and we will obey the order. Preparations to pull the boats and nets out of the water are already under way. Our constant demand to the government is that it gives financial help along with the rice, because cooking with the rice needs oil, salt, vegetables and other things."

The fishers also said most of them are burdened with debts and loan instalments. "If instalments were suspended during this time, we would benefit. If the administration keeps instalments on hold, the pressure will ease," they said.

Chandpur district fisheries officer Golam Mehedi Hasan said awareness campaigns in the fishing villages to protect jatka had been completed and distribution of their allocated rice would begin. The jatka protection drive will be as strict as the drive to protect mother hilsa, and the fisheries department has taken every measure to ensure dishonest fishers cannot get onto the river in the sanctuary in any way.

Chandpur river zone police superintendent Syed Moshfiqur Rahman said awareness meetings had been held with fishers within the Chandpur river boundary. If any fisher still breaks the law and kills jatka on the river, action will be taken under the fisheries law.

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