Eight fishermen were arrested on Saturday morning from the Meghna River in Daulatkhan upazila of Bhola district for defying the government's ongoing two-month ban on all kinds of fishing including catching of jatka (hilsa fry). A mobile court has conducted the drive and seized their fishing boats.
Later, the mobile court sentenced them to different terms of imprisonment. District Fisheries Officer Abul Kalam Azad informed that a total of eight fishermen were arrested with one fishing boat and 25,000 meters of net during the drive from the river of Meghna.
Executive Magistrate of District Administration Mohammad Arafat Hussain conducted the mobile court and sentenced six fishermen to different terms of jail and fined two fishermen with Tk 9000, he said.
The government has imposed a two-month ban starting from March 1 on all kinds of fishing in the 70-km Padma-Meghna sanctuary area.
A two-month-long ban on all kinds of fishing including jatka (hilsa fry) in the 70-km Padma-Meghna sanctuary area has effected on March 1(Friday), impacting 43,000 registered fishermen in Chandpur.
The prohibition, enforced by the district and upazila task forces, aims to preserve the aquatic ecosystem and boost hilsa production.
District Fisheries Officer Golam Mehedi Hasan told that fishermen, who refrained from catching jatka for two months from March 1 to April 30, will be given 40 kg of food aid per person. Rice distribution has already started at the union level. Maximum efforts will be made to implement the decisions of the district task force to protect jatka.
Executive magistrates, deployed as part of the taskforce, are ready to take strict action against any fishermen violating the ban. Jalal Dewan and Hridoy Hossain, fishermen from Meghna coastal village, stressed the need for doubling the government assistance, citing lack of alternative income sources during this period of unemployment. Chandpur River Police Station Officer-in-Charge Kamruzzaman said the river police have taken all preparations to implement the two-month fishing ban.