Almost all of the 2,04,699 fishermen are getting equipped to net hilsa in the rivers of Barisal region with the ban on catching the silver fish coming to end on  Friday (October 9) night. The 15-day restriction imposed by the directorate of fisheries on catching hilsa to ensure safe spawning as well as proper breeding environment for the mother fish will end on the night of October 9. Highest number of fishermen families refrained from catching hilsa fish this year following the order of the government, said Anwar Hosen, secretary of Bangladesh Khudra Mathajibi Jele Samity (an association of small traders). They are repairing their boats and nets during this time.  At the time of visiting Barisal Fish Ghat area on Port Road of the city yesterday morning, this correspondent found that the  fishermen were passing their last moments of restriction doing their finishing task in their boats and with nets and repairing cracks of their boats.
Rabindra Das, one of the wholesalers of Barisal hilsa market, said that production cost of one maund of hisha net this year rose up to Tk30,000 for labour charge, yarn, rope and others materials.  Minimum 40 maunds of net are needed in a fishing boat for fishing hilsa in the bay.
Fishermen who have no work in the river and the bay during 15 days’ ban are doing job as the net and boat makers earning about Tk 300 per head.
Ajit Kumar Das Monu Babu, president of Barisal Fish Wholesale Market, said this year most of the fishermen are preparing new nets because almost all of them faced storms in every trip and saved their lives throwing the nets in the bay.  
On the other hand, fishermen said, system made them hilsa fishing labourers from professional fishermen.  “We are just following the order of fish traders or wholesalers. We are preparing nets and boats, catching fish as daily basis payment. Once when we were the real fishermen, we did not kill mother hilsa,” said a fisherman.
Fishermen demanded immediate release of over 400 of their fellows who were arrested and sent to jail for violating the restriction on the last 15 days.
They had  no way of earning bread for their children as a majority of them were now laborers; so they were taking high risk of their life, said another fishermen. The fishermen also opined that jailing and seizing fish, boats, trawlers and nets cannot be solution; there should come a change in the system for the sustainable safety of hilsa fish.
Sources said 50 percent of the registered fishermen
families are still out of the VGF card list.  “If the government wants to get good results of the restriction, we need a perfect rehabilitation programme during the ban,” said a fisherman.