A 22-day ban on fishing in rivers and the Bay of Bengal will come into effect at midnight as part of the Mother Hilsa Conservation Campaign during the peak breeding season.
The ban, which will remain in force from 8 October to 29 October, prohibits the catching, transporting, marketing and storing of hilsa and all other fish nationwide.
The restriction has left more than 100,000 fishing families and fisherfolk in Barguna without work.
A day ahead of the ban, trawlers returning from the sea began docking at the Patharghata Fish Landing Centre, Barguna Sadar river port and Fakirhat in Taltali. Fishermen were seen packing away their nets and ropes before heading home.
On Wednesday morning, a trawler was seen anchored at Patharghata Fish Landing Centre. Fisherman Yaqub Ali said the local fishermen had returned in compliance with government directives and would refrain from fishing during the ban.
While expressing support for the initiative to protect mother hilsa, fishermen called for strict action against illegal fishing. Golam Rasul, Nazrul Molla and Khokon said illegal fishing during last year’s ban had depleted fish stocks and left fishermen with inadequate catches after the restrictions were lifted.
Abul Hossain Farazi, owner of ‘FB Farazi’, also called for strict enforcement, saying honest fishermen would suffer if illegal fishing continued. He said everyone would benefit from higher catches if all fishermen followed the restrictions.
Fishermen also raised concerns over irregularities in the distribution of government aid rice. Nur Mohammad, Shamim Hossain and Enayet Hossain alleged that Union Parishad (UP) members provide 18 to 20kg instead of the allocated 25kg and that some registered fishermen receive no aid.
They called for strict government monitoring to prevent such irregularities.
Barguna’s Patharghata BFDC (Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation) Ghat, the country’s second-largest fish landing centre, will remain completely closed for the 22-day ban. Lt Commander GM Masud Shikder, manager of the Patharghata Fish Landing Centre, said all buying and selling of hilsa and other fish would stop from 12am midnight and fishermen and traders had been informed in advance.
Md Kamrul Hasan, Barishal Divisional Director of the Department of Fisheries, said aid rice distribution had been completed in Pirojpur and would be completed across the division within the first week of the ban.
He warned that strict legal action would be taken against illegal fishing. He also said local administrations had been instructed to take firm action against corruption in aid distribution, with the Department of Fisheries coordinating the process.
Official records show 52,000 government-registered fishermen in Barguna, while rice allocations have arrived for only 39,469. Unofficial estimates put the district’s total number of fishermen at more than 100,000.
