Fishing of jatka by unscrupulous fish traders
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), 23rd February, 2011:
Indiscriminate fishing of jatka (hilsha fries) by current nets is going on in rivers Maghna and Padma. Almost 120 tons of jatka are being caught every day from these sources by 2000 current nets.
Sources said in spite of ban on fishing of jatka, some dishonest fish traders are catching jatka everyday incurring losing up to taka few crore. Besides hilsha fishes, other small fishes are also netted from these rivers. In recent years the export of hilsha fish to India and other countries have reduced by 30% thus earning much lower foreign exchange than previous years.
According to sources in Chandpur Fisheries Department (CFD), mobile court seized about 1000 current nets and at least ten cases have been lodged with the Police in this connection.
Chandpur Fisheries Department also revealed that two major hilsha breeding ground have been located in the Meghna in Haimchar upazila and another ground in Padma in Shatnal in Matlab upazela. According to Chandpur Riverine Fisheries Institute, on average 5000 tons of jatka is caught from these rivers every year. The availability of hilsha fish is scarce in the market due to unjust catching of jatka.
The fisheries authority is very much concerned about this problem and urged the local authorities to be more vigilant to apprehend any fisherman catching jatka using current nets and take lawful actions against them.