After a 22-day government ban on fishing during the hilsa breeding season, the restriction ended at midnight on Saturday.
From early Sunday morning, fishermen along the Cox’s Bazar coast began setting out for the deep sea, their nets and boats ready, carrying renewed hopes and dreams.
For the past few days, the fishermen have been busy repairing nets, boats, and trawlers in preparation for their long-awaited return to the sea.
At Fishery Ghat, fisherman Hasan shared his optimism: “We hope to catch enough hilsa this time to repay our debts and rebuild our lives with our families.”
Trawler owner Abu Bakkar said the previous fishing season had been disappointing.
The fishermen couldn’t catch enough fish, and even the owners didn’t recover their initial investment. On top of that, natural disasters made things worse, he also said.
“Still, we’re hopeful that post-ban fishing will bring good yields. Many trawlers have already left for the sea,” he added.
Following the government’s 22-day special operation to protect mother hilsa, the coastal areas, rivers, ghats, and fish markets of Cox’s Bazar are now regaining their familiar buzz of activity.
To conserve breeding hilsa, the government had banned fishing, selling, transporting, and storing fish in the sea and rivers from October 4 to October 25.
During the ban, joint drives were conducted by the district administration, the fisheries department, the National Thalassemia Control Programme, the Coastal Guard, and the River Police.
Cox’s Bazar District Fisheries Officer, Md. Nazmul Huda stated that the ban was largely successful, despite a few violations.
“We expect hilsa production to surpass the target this year,” he added.
According to him, Cox’s Bazar has more than 64,000 registered fishermen, and during the ban period, 25 kilograms of VGF rice were distributed to each of 26,280 fishermen to support their families.
By Mohammad Morshed
Photo: Mohammad Morshed
