After a 65-day prohibition on fishing in rivers and the sea across the nation, Hilsha hunters will begin netting early tomorrow in the Bay of Bengal and its neighboring rivers close to the Sundarbans. They will use rafts and nets for collecting fish.
A jubilant atmosphere is permeating the fisheries ghat areas in the coastal region as more than 50,000 fishermen, their families, and stakeholders rejoice as Hilsa fishing has resumed at 12 minutes after the suspension.
Numerous coastal area fishermen have been preparing over the past few days to head to the Bay of Bengal to catch Hilsa after the prolonged hiatus, according to Department of Fisheries officials.
In order to increase Hilsa output by safeguarding mother fish during their peak breeding season, the government enacted a 65-day ban on the capture, sale, hoarding, and transit of Hilsa in the Bay of Bengal and other rivers.
The Bangladesh Navy, Coast Guard, District and Upazila administrations, Police, and members of the Rapid Action Battalion have all organized campaigns to stop Hilsa fishing during this time.
This writer discovered that the fishermen had already floated their trawlers to the rivers from the dockyard when visiting the Rajoir Fisheries Ghat area at Sharonkhola upazila in Bagerhat on Friday afternoon.
As they must spend a few days in the deep sea during the fishing season, the fishermen also stocked the trawlers with their daily necessities including nets, ice, and fuel.
Local fisherman Zakir Hossain of Zilbunia village and Rustam of Rajeswar village, both located inside Sharonkhola upazila, spoke to BSS and stated: “We are anticipating enormous Hilsa to be net at the Bay of Bengal and rivers, adjacent to the Sundarbans. We hoped that the loans we had previously borrowed from moneylenders would be repaid,” the authorities continued.
“We could not go to the river for fishing for the last 65 days due to government restriction. We have maintained our livelihood with the food support of the government,” they said.
Around 7,000 registered fishermen from the Upazila have been traveling to the Bay to harvest Hilsha fish following a 65-day restriction, according to M Saiful Islam Khokon, central vice-president of the Bangladesh Fishing Trawler Owners Association and a fish trader from Sharonkhola.
“Nobody went to netting fish in the Bay during the ban,” he said, adding that Fishermen had passed very hard days although government has given foodstuff to them.
