Rangamati Correspondent

The Kaptai Lake of Rangamati is not only the wealth of the country but also of Southeast Asia. There is no such large artificial lake anywhere else. Efforts should be made to earn foreign exchange by protecting the Kaptai lake and its fisheries.

Minister of Fisheries and Animal Resources Md. Abdur Rahman said these things in the opening ceremony of the VGF (rice) distribution program among fishers and release of fish fry in Kaptai lake at Rangamati fish landing ghat on Saturday morning.

The Minister of Fisheries and Animal Resources also said that fishing is prohibited in Kaptai Lake for the next three months, the fry that are being released are for you. We will not come and catch this fish, you will catch this fish and run the family with the money earned from this fish. So this fish should be allowed to grow for its own sake. Fish cannot be caught in the lake for the next three months. Do not fish yourself and do not allow others to fish.

Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation Chairman (Additional Secretary) Syed Mahmud Belal Haider presided over the opening ceremony as special guests, Rangamati MP, Forest, Environment and Climate Change Ministry Parliamentary Standing Committee President Dipankar Talukdar, Fisheries and Animal Resources Ministry Secretary Md Salim Uddin, Naval Police Additional IG Md. Abdul Alim Mahmud, Director General of Directorate of Fisheries Syed Md. Alamgir, Director General of Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute Dr. Md. Zulfikar Ali.

At the end of the discussion, the guests distributed rice to the fishermen and released fish fry in the lake and inaugurated the program of releasing fish fry in Kaptai lake and distributing VGF (rice) to fishermen by flying balloons and pigeons.