DHAKA, Nov 3, 2020 (BSS) – A 22-day ban on catching, selling, hoarding and transporting hilsa comes to an end tomorrow.
The restriction came into effect on October 13 midnight with an aim to boost its output through protection of mother hilsa during its peak breeding season.
Fisheries and Livestock Ministry launched ‘Mother hilsa conservation drive-2020’ during the period. Members of Navy and the Coast Guard’s special monitoring teams worked to prevent catching of hilsa and boats were not allowed to ply the spots in the river where mother hilsas roam.
The ban was imposed in around 7,000 square kilometres area of rivers in 27 districts which were earmarked as the main breeding ground of hilsa, according to the fisheries and livestock ministry.
Apart from rivers of those districts, all coastal areas and estuaries were under the purview of the ban.
Mother hilsa start swimming upstream from the sea towards the river weeks before the full moon in October (Ashwin in Bengali calendar) and they return to the sea after spawning.
During the ban, the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry took steps to distribute 20kg rice per day to each of the 5.70 lakh families of the affected fishermen in the country.
Earlier, the two-month government ban on catching, selling and transporting of hilsa began on March 1 and ended May 1.