Rotten hilsas show fishing was on during ban:Daily Star

Fishermen sort a huge amount of hilsa apparently caught days ago during the 11-day ban on hilsa fishing. Some of them have even started to rot, at Chandpur Machghat yesterday morning. Photo: Alam Palash/Arifur Rahman It seemed the netting of hilsa went unabated defying the 11-day ban as fishermen brought hundreds of maunds of the popular fish preserved with ice at wholesale markets of Chandpur and
Barisal yesterday, a day after the ban ended. The government imposed the ban on catching, selling and transporting hilsa across the country from October 5 to October 15, since hilsa lay eggs in plenty during this period (Ashwin-Kartik, five days before and after of Baro Purnima). In Barisal, law enforcers seized 70 maunds of hilsa as fishermen caught those during the period and brought those to the market for selling, reports our Barisal correspondent. Our Chandpur correspondent also reports arrival of huge quantity of ice preserved hilsa at the wholesale market of Chandpur. In Barisal, the Navy captured a trawler carrying tonnes of hilsa, caught during the ban while in Chandpur packs of the national fish are seen ready for sale. Photo: Alam Palash/Arifur Rahman The huge catch of hilsa at different markets raised question about the success of the drives conducted for ensuring safe spawning and protecting the hilsa fish population. A top official of the Department of Fisheries told The Daily Star that the government not only imposed the ban but conducted regular drives during the period. "It was hard to stop fishermen from catching fish," said the top officials. Advertisement During the restriction, 1,074 mobile courts comprising government officials from the department of fisheries, district administration and law enforcers conducted 4,357 drives and seized 40.65 metric tonnes of hilsa. The ban ended only yesterday morning. Photo: Alam Palash/Arifur Rahman They also filed 1,348 cases, seized 145.11 lakh metres of fishing nets and fined Tk 37.85 lakh and sent 723 fishermen to jail in 14 districts, said officials of the fisheries department. Our Barisal correspondent, quoting Bimal Das, district fishery officer (Hilsa), reports that 124 fishermen were jailed, 273 were fined Tk 10.89 lakh and 397 cases had been lodged by 119 mobile courts in 216 drives for violating the ban in the district until Wednesday midnight. Later, the district administration arranged auction as the condition of the fishes was not good, said Bimal.