A joint team of mobile court on Friday in separate drives arrested 60 fishermen along with current net and hilsha fish in the last 24 hours from the rivers of Padma and Meghna in Shariatpur district and sentenced them to different terms imprisonment for defying the government's ongoing a 22-day ban on hilsha fishing.
According to the district fisheries offices, a total of 60 fishermen were arrested with 118 kgs of mother hilsha and 3.58 lakh meters of banned current nets during the drives in the rivers Padma and Meghna.
The mobile court sentenced 59 fishermen to different terms imprisonment and fined a fisherman.
The joint team of mobile court includes officials of fisheries department, district administration, upazila administration, RAB, police and naval police. District Fisheries Officer Pranab Kumar Karmakar said the seized nets were destroyed and the seized hilsha was distributed to the orphanages, madrasas and poor people in the area.
The government has imposed a 22-day ban starting from October 4 on catching, selling, storing and transporting hilsha, to ensure safe spawning of the Mother Hilsha, during its peak breeding period.
