The government has imposed a 22-day ban on catching, selling and transporting of hilsa to ensure the safe spawning of the fish during its peak breeding period.

The ban will be effective from October 9 (Wednes-day) to October 30 over 7,000 km of breeding grounds, according to a circular issued by the fisheries department yesterday.

As many as 48 fisheries officers have been tasked with ensuring the safe spawning of hilsa. They will also prevent fishermen from catching the fish during the ban period, said the circular signed by the director general of fisheries department, Quazi Shams Afroz.

During the hilsa breeding period, a combined operation will be conducted at all the fishing ghats, warehouses, and bazars across the country, district fisheries officer Dr Sainar Alam told The Independent. Besides, each fisherman’s family will receive 20 kg of rice from the government, under its vulnerable group feeding (VGF) programme during the 22-day ban, disaster management and relief ministry sources said.

A total of 395,709 fishermen are involved in catching hilsa in 112 upazilas under 29 districts in the country.

Hilsa production in Bangladesh has gone up by 159.76 per cent in the last 15 years due to various government initiatives, including the ban during the breeding period.

The production of hilsa stood at 517,000 tonnes in the 2017-18 fiscal year, up from 199,000 tonnes in the 2002-03 fiscal year.

The production was 496,000 tonnes in 2016-17.

The estimated market value of the 517,000 tonnes of the fish stands at Tk. 20,000 crore, calculated at Tk. 400 per kg this year.

The total production is expected to surpass 550,000 tonnes within five years, fisheries department sources said.

In order to ensure the safe reproduction of hilsa, the fisheries department has been imposing bans, since 2003, on catching the fish during the Bangla month of Ashwin to Kartik. The ban is imposed under the Protection and Conservation of Fish Act 1950.

Any breach of the ban will result in one to two years of imprisonment and a maximum fine of Tk 5,000.

Besides the fisheries department, the armed forces, coast guard, police, river police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), district and upazila administrations, will enforce the ban.