Fishermen of the coastal area of Chandpur are preparing to catch fish in the river after the ban. After two months they will go down to the river. Fishermen spend their days repairing old boats and torn nets. On April 30, fishing will be prohibited after 12 midnight.
Dudu Mia is in his 60s. This fisherman of Sakhua village of Ibrahimpur union of Sadar upazila has been involved in fishing since childhood. He has various experiences in catching hilsa in Meghna. He does fishing during the rest of the time except the prohibited time.
On Sunday (April 28) morning, Dudu spoke with Mia by the side of the canal. He has been involved in fishing since he learned to understand. I am in this profession till now. Fishing is prohibited during two seasons of the year. Then we have to do other work to run the family. Before the start of fishing, he went down to the river in various ways, repairing boats and buying nets. However, the matter of getting hilsa is up to Allah. If you go down to the river, sometimes you can find hilsa, and sometimes you have to return empty-handed.
He also said, if we ban, we refrain from fishing. But the family does not survive with the help given by the government. That’s why I earn by doing other work. The government’s drive to protect jatka needs to be more stringent and the use of current nets banned completely. Then the possibility of getting hilsa will increase.
Saiful Islam, Safiq Ghazi, Malek Sheikh are jailed in the same union. They are working on repairing nets and boats to go down the river. They said that our family is going through a lot of trouble as they have stopped fishing for two months. Because we cannot do anything other than fishing. That’s why I am preparing to fish again by repairing the net with the hope of getting hilsa.
They also said that we have 10-12 fishermen in each boat. 12 families of 12 people. Our family depends on getting fish. If fish is available, the family will be well. If you don’t find it, you have to go with difficulty. Many spend their days with their children in trouble.
Country Fishing Board Malik Samiti Chandpur district president Shah Alam Mallik said that the ban on keeping jatka during the two months of March-April this year has been strictly implemented. Haimchar of Meghna river is one of the places of Jatka migration. Every year, 200-300 fishing boats of Shariatpur and Matlab Uttar Upazila used to come and land Jatka. But this year they have been thwarted.
Chandpur District Fisheries Officer. Golam Mehedi Hasan said about the two-month jatka protection campaign, this year, under the hilsa resource development and management project, the campaign was conducted with 10 speedboats in the shelter area. Our officers and employees, Coast Guard, Naval Police have been stationed in the river day and night during the month of Ramadan this year as well. Our officers and employees were in the river throughout the month of Ramadan. No foreign fisherman could catch jatka in the river this year. We were able to resist them.
He also said that due to the strict stance of the district task force, fishermen have come down to the river less this year. Even then, among those who disobeyed the ban, we sentenced about three hundred fishermen through mobile courts. In two months, around 50 lakh meters of banned current nets, three metric tonnes of jatka and 60 fishing boats have been seized. A fine of around 10 lakh taka has been collected from the arrested fishermen. The seized boats will be auctioned later.
