DHAKA ,Sept 22, 2021 (BSS) - Catching hilsa will be banned for 22 days
from October 4 to October 25 as it is the main breeding season of this year.

   The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Task Force Committee
on Hilsa Resource Development at the Fisheries Department's conference room
at Matsya Bhaban in the capital today, a press release said here.

  Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim presided over the meeting,
the release added.

   During this time, procurement, marketing, buying, selling, transportation,
stocking and exchange of hilsa will be prohibited across the country.

   In case of breeding of hilsa, catching all kinds of fish will also be
prohibited at this time, the release said, adding that in the interest of
safe breeding of hilsa, mother hilsa conservation activities will be
implemented at this time.

   Additional Secretaries of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock Shyamol
Chandra Karmakar and Md Taufiqul Arif, Chairman of Bangladesh Fisheries
Development Corporation Kazi Hasan Ahmed, Director General of the Department
of Fisheries Kazi Shams Afroz, Ministry of Planning's Planning Commission's
Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Institutions Division Chief Md Matiur
Rahman and Director General (DG) of the Bangladesh Fisheries Research
Institute (BFRI) Dr Yahya Mahmud were present, among others, on the occasion.

   Rezaul Karim called for a concerted effort to make the 22-day ban on hilsa
procurement more successful than last year.

   He urged the concerned people to do the right thing from their respective
places to protect the fisheries sector.

   The minister also said that the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock will
take all kinds of responsibilities to protect the fisheries sector.