Fishermen swoop on mobile court, police patrol team

A mobile court led by Baufal upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) came under attack by fishermen, who were fishing hilsa in the Kalaiya River, defying a temporary ban on Friday night, reports our Patuakhali correspondent.

At least two people sustained injuries as the fishermen threw bricks chips at the team members during the drive against hilsa netting, said Md Abdullah Mahmud Al Zaman, UNO of Baufal upazila.

The injured are Abdur Rahim, driver of the trawler, and his helper Limon, 20, of Kalaiya village under the upazila. They took treatment at a local clinic.

"At about 11:30pm, when we were patrolling the Kalaiya River, we came under attack by a group of unidentified fishermen, who were annoyed with us as they couldn't catch hilsa. They threw bricks chips at us from the bank of the river," the UNO said.

"Our trawler went out of order and another trawler rescued us at around 3:00am on Saturday," he said, adding that they seized around 20,000 metres of net and 2 kgs hilsa during the the drive.

Abul Hasanat, Patuakhali district fisheries officer, said a group of local fishermen are catching hilsa in different rivers in the district, defying the ban.

With the help of local administration, drives to save mother hilsa are continuing in different rivers in the district, he added

Our Barisal correspondent reported that a police patrol team fired 15 rounds of blank shots as fishermen protesting ban against hilsa netting attacked the team on the Meghna River under Hizla upazila of the district the same night.

Golam Sarwar, officer-in-charge of Hizla Police Station, said law enforcers also seized four fishing trawlers and around 40 thousand metres of fishing net, but the fishermen managed to flee the scene.

Police said they challenged and chased a group of fishermen on the Meghna River near Char Abupur under Hizla Police Station at around 10:00pm.

As the fishermen started throwing brick chips at the law enforcers, they fired 15 rounds of blank shots to disperse the fishermen. They later seized the fishing trawlers and nets from the scene.

Helaluddin, sub-inspector of the police station, lodged a case on Saturday, accusing300 unnamed fishermen, said the OC.