A mobile court in Chandpur on Tuesday sentenced and fined 24 fishermen for violating a temporary fishing ban in the Padma-Meghna sanctuary.
The court led by the district administration’s Executive Magistrate Md Jakaria Hossain imposed the penalties.
One month’s imprisonment was awarded to 16 of the fishermen, while eight people were fined a total of Tk 32000. Two others were released considering their age after taking a bond, according to Md Mizanur Rahman, an assistant fisheries officer of Sadar upazila.
Earlier, members of Coast Guard in association with the district’s fisheries department detained 26 people for violating the fishing ban in the sanctuary, he said.
During the drive, one lakh metres of current nets were seized and later burnt, he said.
A two-month ban on catching 'jatka' (hilsa fry less than 9 inches or 23 centimetres in length) is in place from March 1 to April 30 in five hilsa sanctuaries across the country.