GAIBANDHA: Mobile courts jailed and fined as many as 42 fishermen for catching hilsa fish in Brahmaputra and Jamuna rivers in Gaibandha areas defying 22-day-long ban.

Of them, 17 were jailed and 25 fined, Sadar Upazila Senior Fisheries Officer Sanjay Banerjee told Banglanews on Thursday (October 31).

20 mobile courts launched a total of 134 raids, seizing 42 kg hilsas and 1, 48,000 meter-long banned current net during the ban.

At that time, 3,522 fishermen of the district were given 20 kg rice each under government's special allotment VGF, District Fisheries Officer Abdul Daiyan told Banglanews.

The 22-day-long ban began on October 9 and ended on October 30.

The government imposed a ban on catching, selling, hoarding and transportation of hilsa in the Bay of Bengal and different rivers for 22 days to boost Hilsa production through protection of the mother fish during its peak breeding season.

BDST: 2142 HRS, OCT 31, 2019

AH