Eight fishermen sent to jail in Rajshahi

A mobile court in Rajshahi on Tuesday convicted eight fishermen and sentenced them to suffer one year jail each on charge of illegally fishing hilsha in the Padma river. The mobile court also seized 10,000 meters of current fishing nets and 140 kilograms of hilsha fishes from Noboganga and its adjacent areas in the river under Paba Upazila.

The court, led by Upazila Nirbahi Officer Alamgir Hossain, conducted the raids and arrested the fishermen with the current nets and fishes. Department of Fisheries is conducting the mobile court as part of the nationwide ban of catching brood hilsha fishes.

Senior Upazila Fisheries Officer Abul Kalam Azad said the seized nets were burnt and the fishes sent to a nearby orphanage. The country has imposed a 22-day ban on Hilsa fishing in 27 districts in a bid to increase the population of the popular fish species.

Fishermen in 76 upazilas will be compensated with 20 kg of rice each by the relief and disaster management ministry. Catching, selling, transportation, storage and exchange of Hilsa fish is now banned across the country.

-AA Correspondent, Rajshahi