Twenty-one fishermen have been given jail terms and fines of various lengths for catching hilsa in the Padma in defiance of the government ban over the past 24 hours. The administration also seized 143kg of hilsa and 3,83,000 metres of current net, with an estimated market value of about Tk 74.5 lakh.

Rajbari District Fisheries Officer Md Mahbub Ul Haque confirmed the information around 3pm on Tuesday (21 October).

He said that in the previous 24 hours the district and upazila administrations, fisheries officials and staff and law enforcers ran nine drives and five mobile courts on the Padma. The drives seized 143kg of hilsa and 3,83,000 metres of current net and detained 21 fishermen in total. The mobile courts then handed them jail terms and fines of various lengths.

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