Drive against gill nets soon

The government will soon start drives against fine-mesh gill net as High Court has rejected all 57 writ petitions filed against the law that banned such fishing nets in the country, Fisheries and Livestock Minister Muhammed Sayedul Hoque said at a workshop yesterday.

The Protection and Conservation of Fish Act, 1950 was amended in 2002 to impose a ban on manufacturing, marketing, fabricating, importing, storing, carrying, transporting, possessing or using the gill net.

Stakeholders, who might be affected by the ban, filed the petitions between 2002 and 2012.

The workshop was organised by Bangladesh Fish Research Institute in the capital's Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council auditorium marking the "Jatka Conservation Week 2015".