Fishermen are set to resume hilsa fishing as the two-month ban on catching, selling, and transporting jatka (hilsa fry) will end on Wednesday midnight.

Some 50,000 fishermen including 44,035 registered fishermen have taken preparation to go for fishing after repairing nets and boats to go to the rivers to catch hilsa.

During a visit to Ananda Bazar, Lalpur, Bishnadi, Safarmali, Kanudi, Bishnupur, Tilabari, Boro Station Molhead, Puran Bazar Ronagoal, Harishobha, Dokanghar, Baharia, Laxmipur, Hanarchar, Harina and Akhoner Haat areas, the UNB correspondent found that the fishermen are passing busy time in preparing their boats and nets.

During the ban period, fishermen refrained from catching hilsa in a 70-km long area from Shatnol in Matlab North to Char Bhairabi in Haimchar upazila of the district.

Golam Mehedi, District Fisheries Officer, said during this ban period, the government provided 40 kgs of rice to each fisherman families in four phases.

Due to frequent operations by the district task force, Coast Guard and River Police teams defying fishermen failed to gain much advantage in the river, he said. 

Some 300 fishermen were sentenced to different terms jail through 40 mobile court drives and nearly 10.895 lakh meters of current nets and 6.5 metric tonnes of jatka were seized during the drives.

The mobile court also fined them Tk 3 lakh.

Dr Anisur Rahman, an expert of Chandpur Fisheries Research Institute, said due to shoals emerging in the river and other issues hilsa movement has declined in the Meghna-Padma rivers under Chandpur region.

He also emphasised the need to completely stop water pollution and indiscriminate sand extraction from the rivers.

In a move to increase the production of the national fish, hilsa, the government announced a two-month fishing ban in the Padma-Meghna rivers in Chandpur from March 1 till April 30, covering a 70 km sanctuary area from Shatnal in Matlab North to Char Bhairavi in Haimchar upazila.