Mobile courts have sentenced five fishermen to seven days in jail each for catching hilsa in the Jamuna river in defiance of the fishing ban. The sentences were handed down in Sirajganj over the past five days.

In addition, the administration carried out 57 drives and 12 mobile courts, filed 16 cases, imposed fines of Tk 16,700 and seized and destroyed about 1.57 lakh metres of illegal net.

District fisheries officer Shahinur Rahman confirmed the figures to Jago News at about 10:30am on Friday, 18 October.

He said upazila administrations were running drives to protect mother hilsa in Sirajganj Sadar, Kazipur, Belkuchi, Chauhali and Shahjadpur, the upazilas along the Jamuna. During the ban, catching, preserving, transporting, marketing and stockpiling hilsa of any kind is prohibited in these areas. The drives will continue until 3 November.

The district fisheries department said the government imposed a 22-day ban from the 13th of this month to protect mother hilsa. Many fishermen are nonetheless going out on the Jamuna to catch hilsa in defiance of the order, although registered fishermen have been given food assistance.

According to the Chauhali upazila administration, unscrupulous people are catching hilsa in the Jamuna in breach of the ban. Acting on such reports, 24,000 metres of current net were seized and burned on Thursday, and 6 kg of seized hilsa was given to the orphanage of a local madrasa.

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