Fishermen Jailed for Defying Ilish Ban

Mobile court in separate drives arrested 29 fishermen along with current-nets and Ilish fish in the last 24-hour from the rivers Padma and Meghna in the Shariatpur district as a nationwide annual 22-day moratorium on Ilish capture is underway.

The mobile court sentenced 19 fishermen to different terms of imprisonment and fined 10 fishermen Taka 85 thousand for defying the government's ongoing ban on Ilish fishing.

A total of 29 fishermen were arrested with 128 kgs of mother Ilish and 1.44 lakh meters of banned current nets during the drives, said the district fisheries officer Pranab Kumar Karmakar.

The seized nets were destroyed and the seized Ilish were distributed to the orphanages, madrasas and poor people in the area.

The government has imposed a 22-day ban starting from October 4 on catching, selling, storing and transporting Ilish, to ensure safe spawning of the Mother Ilish, during its peak breeding period.