The 22-Day Ban Ends at Midnight: Patuakhali Fishermen Busy Preparing to Sail for Hilsa

The government's 22-day ban, imposed to ensure the safe breeding of mother hilsa, ends at midnight tonight, Thursday (October 29). As the ban lifts, fishermen in Patuakhali have completed all preparations to head out to sea in search of the silvery hilsa.

Because of the ban, issued on October 8, fishermen had kept fishing stopped in the sea and rivers all this time, spending idle days. They are now hoping to land the hilsa they long for.

On the ground, fishermen are busy at all the fish landing centres of the district, including the large fishing ports of Mahipur and Alipur in Patuakhali. They are washing and cleaning their trawlers.

Many have begun loading nets and ice onto their trawlers. Others, having completed all preparations, have already taken position at the river estuary. After midnight they will enter the sea to fish.

District fisheries department sources say that during these 22 days, catching, transporting, stocking, marketing and buying or selling hilsa were punishable offences. Most fishermen in the district stayed away from fishing in compliance with the government ban, which is why they are expected to get the fish they hope for this time.

Fishermen, however, claim that the government's incentive rice during the ban did not reach genuine fishermen. They also say there was intrusion by fishermen from a neighbouring country in the sea.

Salam Hossain, a fisherman from Nizampur village in Mahipur, said, “Those of us who are real fishermen did stay away from fishing for these 22 days. Many of us did not receive the rice from the government. Motorcycle drivers and grocery shopkeepers got the rice. So I request the government to take steps so that real fishermen get the rice.”

Bashir Mia, a fisherman from Khajura village in Latachapli union, said, “We observed the ban and spent idle time. Fishermen from the neighbouring country entered our country's waters freely and took fish away. Even so, we hope to get fish as expected. But next year we demand strict surveillance by the administration at sea.”

Patuakhali district fisheries officer Bijon Kumar Nandi said, “Up to the morning of October 29, through 484 drives and 125 mobile courts in the sea and the district's rivers, we jailed 148 fishermen, filed 167 cases, fined 311,000 taka and seized nearly two million metres of nets. Rice has been distributed among all registered fishermen.”

He added, “Most fishermen observed the ban properly. So we hope that once the fishermen can cast their nets in the deep sea, hilsa will be caught in schools of silvery fish.”