Mother Hilsa Conservation Campaign ends with violations in Rajapur
Md. Naeem Hasan Eamon, Rajapur (Jhalkathi)
The 22-day long campaign of the Rajapur Upazila Fisheries Department of Jhalkathi has completed.
The ban on fishing in the sea and rivers ended after 12 midnight on Sunday after the 22-day ban imposed by the government to protect mother hilsa.
After a long time in Jhalkathi, various preparations of the fishermen were going on for the last one week. After repairing all the fishing equipment including nets, trawlers and boats, they threw the nets in Sugandha and Bishkhali rivers with many dreams. Their hope is to meet the desired fish. But that hope turned into disappointment. This is because the movement of fish is less.
Fishermen say that the hilsa fishing festival of seasonal fishermen continued for the last 22 days due to lax operations of the fisheries department during the ban. However, during the ban, the Rajapur Upazila Fisheries Officer campaigned vigorously to assert himself in the media. He used to advertise that he kept himself busy with various activities including day and night swimming in the river and taking lots of pictures. In these 22 days, nets and hilsa of seasonal fishermen were seized in Rajapur, but there was no jail or fine.
Several local people and fishermen living on the banks of the Bishkhali river complained that Upazila Fisheries Officer Gautam Kumar used to stay less in the river. As many of the other officials who lived in this Rajapur upazila had their houses, their seasonal fishermen continued fishing by managing them with money. So they did not arrest anyone. To raid the river with trawlers. Fishermen used to catch fish right in front of them but the fisheries officials were blind as if they could not see anything with their eyes.
Rajapur Upazila Fisheries Officer Gautam Kumar denied the loose raid and said that 1 lakh 84 thousand 100 meters of net worth Tk 24 lakh 80 thousand 500 was seized by 21 mobile courts in the upazila during 61 raids in 24 hours of 22 consecutive days. 180 kg of hilsa has been seized. The seized fish has been given to a local orphanage.
