Fishers are catching and openly selling mother hilsa in the Meghna river in Barishal despite a 22-day ban meant to protect the fish during its breeding season, according to officials, traders and fishers.

The ban on catching, transporting, storing and selling hilsa runs from 8 October to 29 October.

In Hizla and Mehendiganj upazilas, fishers and traders told Prothom Alo that hilsa worth about Tk 3.5 crore to Tk 4 crore is traded every day at eight landing ghats around Hizla, with temporary markets also appearing along the riverbank. The Daily Star, citing locals, reported that 2,000 to 3,000 maunds are sold daily in at least 30 markets across the two upazilas.

Because the illegal catch is flooding the market, prices have fallen. A wholesaler told bdnews24 that small hilsa weighing about 250 grams were selling for Tk 450 to Tk 500 each, against Tk 750 to Tk 800 in the normal season, while a four-fish kilogram lot fetched around Tk 6,000.

Several thousand fishers from at least 10 unions have kept fishing, mostly at night, scattering when patrols approach. Hizla fisheries officer KM Mahfuzur Rahman said crews resist the drives. "When we go to haul in the nets, 10 to 12 armed boats attack us," he told bdnews24. "The fishers behave dangerously every day."

Enforcement has been constrained. The coast guard fired 11 blank shots in the first five days and a fisheries department speedboat in Hizla was damaged in an attack, bdnews24 reported. Officials said Hizla and Mehendiganj had no fisheries officers posted until 7 October, a day before the ban. Over five days, mobile courts jailed 25 fishers, fined about Tk 51 lakh and seized about 1.63 million metres of nets, according to bdnews24, which put the haul of seized brood hilsa at about 250 kg.

The Fisheries Department has asked for army or coast guard support in four upazilas of the district. In Hizla, officer Mahfuzur Rahman also pointed to a small budget: Barishal district fisheries officer Md Hadiuzzaman told The Daily Star that the number of enforcement drives had fallen this year because of poor funding. He later told bdnews24 that a navy vessel along the 60-kilometre stretch of the Meghna, backed by the coast guard and police, could help stop the fishing.

Officials and fishers alleged that two Hizla upazila BNP leaders control the fishing and the trade, taking about 10 per cent of sales and roughly Tk 2,000 for each net cast. Both denied any role. Altaf Hossain said he knew nothing about it, while Dewan Munir Hossain said the administration should act against those fishing during the ban and that his party supported the government, bdnews24 reported.

During the ban, the government is distributing 25 kg of rice to each registered fisher. According to the district fisheries office, quoted by The Daily Star, Barishal has 422,275 registered fishers, of whom 358,516 are receiving the rice.

Hilsa is Bangladesh's national fish, and the autumn ban is meant to let brood fish spawn in clear water in the Meghna. Barishal fisheries officials warn that if the fishing cannot be stopped along the Meghna's main channel, the ban will have little effect and stocks will keep declining.