Abdul Ghoni, Chandpur
Fishermen in Chandpur will start fishing in the Padma-Meghna from midnight on Friday, May 1, after a two-month ban on hilsa in March and April across the country.
The ban was in place until midnight on April 30. The ban on rivers in the Chandpur maritime boundary will end on April 30. After a long two months of idle time, 51 thousand fishermen will start fishing in the river on Friday (May 1).
Due to this, the fisherman families feel relieved. Dr Anisur Rahman, a renowned hilsa researcher of the country, said in a brief interview at his office on Wednesday, April 29, that the production of hilsa will increase this year due to the success of the Jatka protection programme. At present the scope of hilsa production has increased.
He said the government has declared sanctuary centers in Chandpur and several other places in the country for two months to conserve Jatka. At that time it was forbidden to procure, transport, stock and buy any kind of fish in the river. Fishermen are now ready to catch hilsa and other fish.
The district fisheries officer said, "Hilsa production should not be disrupted this time. The programme for the rehabilitation of fishermen is going well. However, even if Jatka is killed in some places by some unscrupulous fishermen, the country's production target will not be disrupted.”
In order to protect the national fish hilsa, the government has been banning fishing in the river for 22 days in October to protect mother hilsa and for two months in March-April to protect jatka hilsa. Due to this, about 51,100 fishermen of Chandpur Sadar, Haimchar, Matlab South and North Upazilas became unemployed.
