A government-imposed 65-day fishing ban in the Bay of Bengal begins from today (Monday) to conserve marine fish and ensure its safe spawning. During the ban, which will end on July 23, catching, preserving and selling of all types of marine fish will remain prohibited.
Such multiple bans are imposed almost round the year -- a seven-month ban (November -May) on catching hilsa fry and another 22-day ban on hilsa fishing every October. The government has taken all pragmatic measures to increase the production of hilsa.
The government has been doing everything to make sure that there is no obstacle in the way of raising hilsa production. Hilsa is the most prized fish in Bangladesh and one of the best in the world.
Five lakh people are directly
involved while 20-25 lakh
indirectly with the catch of hilsha
in the
country
Hilsa production has surpassed all previous records. Bangladesh is in the top position among the countries that are producing Hilsa. The contribution of hilsha to country’s total fish production is 11%, the highest as the single species.
A total of five lakh people are directly involved while 20-25 lakh indirectly with the catch of hilsha fish in the country. As the people who are directly or indirectly involved in catching hilsha in the country became unemployed from today, the government will have to provide assistance to fishermen during the ban.
The authorities concerned will have to start providing food assistance to the fishermen families under the Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programme across the districts in order to help them overcome food shortage during the ban period. We have noticed that many traders or other professionals who have never fished or even gone near the river bank have got fisherman cards and get food assistance from the government during the fishing ban every year, whereas real fisherman are deprived of the food aid. On the contrary, many who live only on fishing are not registered on the list and thus do not get government assistance. Keeping this in mind, the authorities concerned will have to prepare the list so that real fishermen get government assistance.
