Each year the Government of Bangladesh impose ban on all types of marine fishing to ensure the reproduction, and preservation of fish and other organisms. This year is no difference and a 65-day ban on all forms of fishing, which include Hilsa, went into effect on Saturday (May 2023).
The aim of prohibiting fishing during the primary reproductive season of marine fish is to boost fish stocks by ensuring undisturbed breeding. Government officials have claimed that fish production has increased significantly due to the ban. However, the fish production data support the government officials’ claim.
For example, just 2,90,000 tonnes of hilsa were produced in the nation during the 2007–2008 fiscal year. In 2018–19, it rose to 5,17,000 tonnes, and in 2019–20, it climbed to 5,33,000 tonnes. In other words, over the past 11 years, the nation’s hilsa output has climbed by around 84%. Only three years ago, Bangladesh accounted for 65% of the world’s total hilsa catches. Since the previous year, the percentage has increased to 85%.
Despite this extraordinary achievement, traders and fishers of the fishing community have voiced their outrage at the year-round fishing ban. Because the decision is a devastating blow for fishery communities, the majority of whom rely on fisheries for their daily sustenance. Even though the government promises to provide affected fishermen with monthly rations, the fishermen are expressing their dissatisfaction and the difficulties that they will face over the next two months.
The lengthy ban, however, worried some of the country’s fishermen in Kuakata, Cox’s Bazar, and other fishing zones. After suffering a week of inactivity due to Cyclone Mocha, they claimed that the ban would exacerbate their financial condition.
Fishermen claimed that they experience 147 days of bans annually, at various times. Mother Hilsa Conservation was prohibited for 22 days in October. Hilsa Sanctuary was prohibited for 60 days in March-April. And the most recent ban was from May 20 to July 23 of 2023.
Moreover, many fishermen have reported illegal intrusion of fishermen from neighboring countries during the ban period.
“During the blockade on Bangladeshi marine waters, fishermen from neighboring countries enter and breach our marine borders without any barriers and steal our fishing wealth,” said Rahman Majhi, a member of the Alipur fishing community in the Kalapara upazila.
He demanded that the government should take prompt steps to stop this illegal fishing activity.
Nur Islam Majhi from Chittagong stated, “There will always be those who cross borders in hopes of finding more fish in the sea.” As the captain of an artisanal gill netter, he possesses over twenty years of fishing expertise and has encountered numerous foreign vessels south of the Bangladeshi port of Mongla.
Anwar Hossain Sikder, a member secretary of the Bangladesh Fishing Boat Owners Association (BFBOA), stated that the 200-nautical-mile fishing ban only benefits Indian and Myanmar fishermen and traders.
However, the statistics support their complaints too.
In the past years, the Bangladeshi coast guard detained over 519 Indian fishermen and impounded 32 vessels off the coast of Patuakhali, which is more than 125 kilometers within Bangladesh’s EEZ.
Moreover, about 1,000 Indian fishermen were imprisoned for months before being released in recent years, according to Bangladesh coast guard statistics. During the prohibition period, this number increases significantly.
Additionally, this ban has worsened the situation of poor fishermen, particularly day laborers.
Fazlu Gazi, president of the Mahipur Fish Storage Cooperative Society, stated, “We have demanded this ban to be reevaluated from the very outset. What will the fishermen eat if they are unable to catch fish in the ocean?”
According to the BFBOA, a large number of small-scale fishermen are day laborers whose families will starve if the government does not provide compensation.
However, the government has taken exemplary measures for disadvantaged fishermen. During the 65-day fishing ban in the Bay, the government distributed 16,752 metric tons of rice through the Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) program to support the families of 2,991,135 listed fishermen in 67 upazilas of 14 districts and Chattogram city. This VGF crop was allocated by the Department of Fisheries and Livestock.
This year, 3,111,062 fishing community members from 14 coastal districts have been registered for government assistance. During the ban period, a fishing community member will receive a total of 86 kilograms of rice.
Out of the 14 districts, local fisheries officials reported that over 49,000 members of the fishing community had been documented in the Patuakhali region and 27, 277 in the Barguna area.
But some fishermen, have also expressed objection to this approach as well.
Golam Mostafa Chowdhury, head of the Fishermen’s Trawler Owners’ Association, estimated that 1,50,000 people lived near the Barguna coast and worked as fishermen, but only 27, 277 persons were on the government’s list.
Senior upazila fisheries official Apu Saha of Patuakhali’s Kalapara upazila stated that the higher authorities will be informed of the demands of the local fishermen.
It also needs to be realized that these poor families, whose only source of income is the sea, have no additional sources of support. And when their fishing rights are revoked, they are left in a state of absolute helplessness.
Although the government provides aid to fishermen, due to poor management, the majority of fisherman’s families are unable to get it. The fishermen additionally voiced their reluctance to accept rationed rice as they believe it is unjustifiable for the government to take away their sole source of income.
Even though many experts believe the “ban” is a wise decision but efforts should be made to provide alternative employment opportunities for affected fishermen.
Therefore, the government must provide alternative sources of income for fishermen so they can support their families even though they cannot catch fish.
In addition, to prevent intrusion by Indian fishermen, the duration of the prohibition must be determined by correlating it to that of neighboring nations.
In addition, plenty of fishermen fail to get relief because fake fishermen were issued identification cards. Therefore, only actual fishermen must be issued with fishing cards.
Some specialists believe that vocational education programs for children can provide alternative income and employment opportunities for fishermen.
However, for protecting community rights as well as conserving the fisheries resource the government must act quickly to solve the burning problems.
Jaber Bin Abdul Bari
Department of Oceanography, NSTU
