Ban on fishing Ilish lifted

Fishermen in Chandpur started catching Ilish in the Meghna and the Padma rivers after the two-month ban on catching, selling, transportation and hoarding of the fish ended Sunday. Shafiqur Rahman, officer at the district Fisheries Department, said that the fishermen were in festive mood after the ban had been lifted, reports our Chandpur correspondent. More than 500 fishermen were offered sweetmeats from the fisheries office in the afternoon in Bhoirabi area of Haimchar, he said. The government banned catching Ilish from March 1 until April 30 to allow proper production of Ilish fry. There are over 41,000 registered fishermen in the district. During the ban, at least 238 fishermen were detained in the district for catching fish violating the ban while 197 of them were sent to jail. The price of Ilish went up quickly after the ban was imposed. Each fisherman was provided with 40kg rice for a month which they alleged was not sufficient to run their families. On the other hand, our Rangamati correspondent reports that the government had banned for three months the catching of fishes in the Kaptai Lake. The ban imposed on catching, marketing and transportation of fishes takes effect on Monday. The decision was taken at a recent meeting chaired by Deputy Commissioner of Rangamati Prokash Kanti Chowdhury to ensure safe breeding and proper growth of fishes in the lake. Around 20,000 poor fishermen will be provided with food through Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) cards during the ban.