An investigation committee has confirmed that trawler-loads of rotten hilsa brought ashore in Kalapara, Patuakhali, and Char Fasson, Bhola, were caught at sea in breach of the ban on hilsa fishing. Dishonest fishers returned with the fish as soon as the 22-day ban ended, and part of the catch, harmful to public health, was bought by salted-hilsa traders, Ajker Patrika reports.
The ban ended at midnight on 29 October. That night and the next morning trawlers carrying rotten hilsa landed at the Mohipur and Alipur fish landing centres in Kalapara and in Char Fasson. On the Department of Fisheries' instructions, its Barishal divisional office formed a three-member committee, which submitted its report last Thursday.
Committee head Md. Anisuzzaman, senior assistant director of the Department of Fisheries in Barishal division, said 50 to 60 maunds of hilsa reached Alipur and Mohipur after the ban, most of it rotten because the trawlers at sea had no ice. A large syndicate was involved, he said. Bhola district fisheries officer Muhammad Delwar Hossain said 200 to 300 kilograms of rotten hilsa reached Samraj ghat in Char Fasson, caught on the last day of the ban.
Md. Kamrul Hasan, acting director of the Department of Fisheries in Barishal division, said about two tonnes of rotten hilsa reached Mohipur and Alipur and part was sold to salted-hilsa traders. The fish came from the sea, he said, but the department has no means to police the sea.
Monirujjaman Khan, a doctor at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barishal, said eating rotten hilsa or spoiled food can cause stomach problems, indigestion and pain. Indrani Das, assistant director of the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection in Barishal division, said that had the fisheries department informed them, those involved could have been fined up to Tk 50,000 under section 45 of the consumer rights law.
The report is by Ajker Patrika's staff correspondent in Barishal.
Photo: Prabirghose / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Ajker Patrika
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