A Hilsa fry ban on its own will not work

Every year the government slaps a ban on catching of the Hilsa fish fry to help the fish spawn properly. But for the fisher folk community living along the Padma River in Munshiganj, it is a matter of subsistence and local authorities distribute free rice during this period. Unfortunately, for the approximately 3,000 fishermen and women, the rice they were promised has not been forthcoming and they've been forced to flout the ban and catching of Hilsa fry all along the shoals of the Padma river in that area is in full swing.

We fail to accept the logic provided by the local authorities that they are still making a list of community members who qualify for the 20kg rice to each fisher folk as compensation for not catching the fish. This programme has been going on for the last few years and hence the basic list already exists. What it points to is sheer mismanagement of an ongoing programme under the Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) and this is going to cause havoc with Hilsa supply next season. Since it is already known how many fisher folk earn their living in Munshiganj, authorities should look into what happened to the rice allotted to these poor people. When we are talking about survival, then people will do what needs to be done to feed their families when the social safety net fails to deliver. No amount of policing, fining or jailing for that matter will put a stop to fishing if aid doesn't come through at the right time.