Two-month Hilsa ban begins

The government’s two-month ban on catching, selling and transporting of Hilsa began Sunday.

A 90-kilometer stretch of the Padma and Meghna rivers has turned into a sanctuary for Hilsa after the ban came into effect. It will be lifted on May 1.

Md Asadul Baki, district fisheries officer, said they conducted drives from 12 am to 1:30 am on Sunday but found no fisherman in the two rivers.

Mahbub Rashid, assistant fisheries officer, Chandpur Sadar Upazila, said the authorities have declared 90km from Matlab Uttar Upazila’s Shatnol area to Charbhoirabi in Haimchar Upazila as the sanctuary, UNB reported.

All the Upazilas in the district have formed individual task force committees to strictly implement the ban, he said.

Hilsa trader Shahajan Sardar, Babul Hazi, and Nurul Islam said that a huge amount of Hilsa was caught in January and February which is considered as off-season for Hilsa fishing.

They hope that the ban would boost production.

Hilsa has the highest contribution in the country's fish production as the single fish species, the government says. More than 12.09 percent of the country's fish production comes from Hilsa.

In 2017-18, Hilsa production was 0.517 million MT (5.17 lakh MT), which had an estimated value of around Tk 206.8 billion (20,680 crores).