The Coast Guard on Wednesday night seized nearly 5,000 kilograms of ‘Jatka’ (Hilsa fry less than 9 inches long) that were caught defying a fishing ban.
A Coast Guard team raided Abhaymitra terminal at about 11:30pm after being tipped off about trading of Jatka.
“A boat and 5,000kg Jatka were seized,” said Lt Commander Saiful Islam, Staff Officer (Operations) of Coast Guard’s East Zone.
But no-one was arrested. The haul was later distributed among orphanages.
A 65-day fishing ban was imposed from May 20 in the Bay to replenish the fish stock. During this period, the government will provide 40kg rice a month to each of 4,14,784 fishermen’s families.
Bangladesh produced 42.77 lakh tonnes of fish in the 2017-18 fiscal. Of them, 6.56 tonnes or 15.33 percent came from the sea, State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Md Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru said.
