22-day ban on Hilsa catching starts on October 14

The government has banned catching, marketing, transporting, selling, bartering, and stocking Hilsa for 22 days from October 14. 

Catching other fishes will also be banned at that time.

The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim at the Department of Fisheries' meeting room at Matsya Bhaban on Thursday.

The minister said, "The success in Hilsa production in recent times has broken all the previous records. All the people of the country can claim the credit for this success.

"The success came due to preserving jatka (Hilsa fries), mother Hilsa, setting up sanctuaries, and conducting drives during the ban."

Rezaul Karim said that there is no alternative to cumulative effort for the gaining unimaginable success in Hilsa production. 

"Hilsa is a symbol of our success. Transcending its limit, it is now playing an important role in foreign policy. The whole world wants Hilsa from Bangladesh," said the minister.

"We have now achieved success in bringing back fishes which were on the verge of extinction. A gene bank has been set up in the Fisheries Research Institute in Mymensingh for this purpose."  

Rezaul Karim said the officials concerned with protecting the fisheries resources will perform their duties freely and there will be no compromise in this regard. 

Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Rawnak Mahmud, additional secretaries Kazi Wasi Uddin and Shyamal Chandra Karmakar, Chairman of Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation Kazi Hasan Ahmed, Director General of Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute Dr Yahia Mahmud, among others, were present at the meeting.