All fishing on the Padma stopped for 22 days from 8 October to protect spawning hilsa. River fishers in Rajbari are worried about feeding their families through the ban, and many say that after years on the river they still have no fisher card, which shuts them out of government help.
District fisheries office figures show 14,102 registered fishers in Sadar, Pangsha, Kalukhali and Goalanda, of whom 6,304 are card holders who catch hilsa. VGF rice has been allotted for 5,592, so 712 card-holding hilsa fishers will get none.
Before the ban, fishers in Sadar's Barat and Mizanpur and in Goalanda's Daulatdia were mending nets and tarring boats. Jamir Haldar of Barat has fished for five or six years without a card and has five to seven people to feed. Shukchan Haldar of Daulatdia has fished for about eight years and gets neither a card nor rice. Yakub Ali of Mizanpur has a card and will stay off the river, but said 25 kg of rice does not go far in a big family.
Sohel Haldar, who has fished for about 36 years, said that adequate help together with other work during the ban would make fishers less likely to go out on the river.
District fisheries officer Md Mahbub Ul Haque said the 22 days are vital for hilsa breeding, and that letting the fish spawn undisturbed raises output. On the card complaints, he said the lists are updated every year, specific complaints will be checked and acted on, and newcomers verified as genuine fishers can be given cards.
People involved say that enforcing the ban must go with updated lists of genuine fishers, enough food aid and other work. The report is from the Agricare24 desk.
Photo: Masumcity / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Agricare24
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