Hilsa catching resumes as 10-day ban ends
Huge nets, fish seized from small fishermen but Tk 13.86 crore mother hilsa exported during the period
Huge quantity of hilsa arrives at a market in Barisal city yesterday as netting of the popular fish started again on Monday, after a ban for ten days from October 15 to 24. Photo: STAR
Hilsa fishing in the southern region has resumed after the end of October 15-24 ban period. The law enforcers seized huge quantities of mother hilsa and fishing nets, trawler worth about Tk 14 crore, mostly from the marginal fishermen who engaged in catching hilsa defying the ban that the government imposed to save mother hilsa during the peak breeding period. Mother hilsa, however, continued to flood local markets during the ban period. Moreover, a staggering 330 tonnes of mother hilsa worth Tk 13.86 crore was exported through fish landing ports of Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation in Barisal city and Patharghata of Barguna district during the ban period, said Abdus Sattar Howladar and Md Shamsuzzaman, managers of the BFDC fish landing ports. When asked about exporting mother hilsa during the period when its catching was banned, the officials said the restriction was only on catching of hilsa but not on its processing and export. Ajit Das, president of Barisal Hilsa Exporters Association, claimed that exported hilsas were caught from outside the jurisdiction of four hilsa fishing banned points. The authorities banned hilsa fishing at four points in 7,000 square kilometres of water areas include ShaherkhaliHaitkandi point in Chittagong in the north-east, Uttar KutubdiaGondamara point in Cox's Bazar in the south-west, Uttar TazumuddinPashchim Syed Awalia point in Bhola in the north-west and Latachapli point of Kalapara upazila in Patuakhali in the south-west during October 15-24. Lt Com Shamim, in charge of coastguard Barisal region, on Monday said the coastguard within last 10 days seized 11.5 lakh metres current net worth Tk 6.5 crore, 11 lakh metre general net worth Tk 6.6 crore and mother 22,000 kg hilsa fish worth Tk 55 lakh, 8 fishing trawlers worth Tk 18 lakh and one covered van worth Tk 7 lakh from different regions of the restricted areas during the ban period. When contacted, assistant director of fisheries Bankim Chandra said movement of mother hilsa is connected with 'tithi' (time circle of lunar calendar), not with the solar timing. "This year the period of new moon and full moon (amabasya and purnima) of the hilsa breeding season started from October 7 and will continue till November 7. And so, a large number of mother hilsa were caught as the ban was imposed following solar calendar instead of lunar calendar," he said. Fisheries officials, however, said at least 1.5 crore mother hilsa may have been saved from netting during the 10-day ban period, creating the scope for naturally laying 46,800 kilograms of eggs. Considering that only a small portion of the eggs would eventually become jatka (young hilsa), nearly 2.93 crore matured hilsa can be expected within the next couple of weeks, they said. Small fishermen, especially those who take loans from the fish merchants or moneylenders on condition of giving the large portion of their catches, are against any ban on fishing. If the catches are considered as too small to repay the loan, such fishermen have to borrow again from the same moneylenders for high interest and it makes them eventually pauper, said a fisherman.
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