The 22-day ban on catching, transporting, storing and selling hilsa, which began on 8 October 2026 in major rivers across 38 districts, is due to be lifted at midnight on 29 October, according to a BSS report published by The Daily Waadaa on 28 October. The ban aims to protect mother hilsa during their breeding season.
During the first 20 days, district administrations, the Bangladesh Coast Guard and the Department of Fisheries ran 229 drives and mobile courts, arrested 150 fishermen and seized 4.5 tonnes of hilsa, 20 boats and 3.7 million metres of current nets, BSS reported. A ministry circular provided 25kg of rice to each of 647,690 fishing families in the affected districts.
State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Sultan Salahuddin Tuku said research must identify the causes of declining production. Experts cited in the report pointed to pollution, siltation and overfishing.
Event date: 8–29 October 2026
Sources: This report summarises the following original reporting. Facts and quotations are attributed to these sources.
- The Daily Waadaa (via BSS), 22-day hilsa fishing ban to be lifted tomorrow (28 October 2026)
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File photo: a hilsa fisherman. Photo: AsikBinRahim / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
This article is a summary prepared by Maritime News BD from the report(s) listed above; it was not independently reported by Maritime News BD.
