7-month ban on jatka catching starts today
A seven-month ban on catching 'jatka' (hilsa fish less than 23 centimetres in length) from November to May will start in all the hilsa-rich areas of the country including Barisal from today.
Hilsa develops 2-2.5 centimetres in length per month and starts moving towards the sea after reaching 15-17cm in length, said Bankim Chandra, assistant director of Barisal office of fisheries department.
When they reach 25-28cm with 300-450 grams weight, they start returning to sweet water rivers for laying eggs, he added.
If only10-20% of jatka could be saved from catching, around two lakh tonnes of matured hilsa worth hundreds of cores taka could be gained every year, said fisheries officials.
The district fisheries department officials said they cannot take adequate action against jatka catchers due to fund constraint, lack of manpower and other logistic support and loophole in law.
Study says that the contribution of hilsa fish to the country's gross domestic product is two per cent while fishing sector provides 9 to 12 per cent of the country's export earnings.
The government steps, including year-long ban on the use of thinly knitted current nets, seven months (November-May) ban on jatka catching, two months (March-April) ban of hilsa fishing in four sanctuaries of the fish and ten-day (October 15-24) complete ban on hilsa fishing in seven thousand kilometre areas, are now contributing to increasing the stock of the popular fish in the country, it adds.
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