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Hilsa trust fund on the cards

Govt hopes to see increased production in next seasons

Staff Correspondent
The government is going to set up "Hilsa Development Trust Fund" for sustainable production of hilsa in the country.
Fisheries and Livestock Minister Sayedul Haque said this at a press conference held at the Matshya Bhaban conference room marking the
start of National Fisheries Week yesterday.
The minister, however, did not give any details regarding the trust fund for the national fish of the country.
"The production of the Hilsa has now reached 3.85 lakh tonnes which is worth Tk 17,000 crore. Necessary programmes will be taken to raise the production of the Hilsa further," the minister said.
He further said Bangladesh at present holds fourth position in the world with a production of35.48 lakh tonnes of fishes in 2013-14. This figure is up from 27.1 lakh tonnes in 2008-09.
This year, the government has decided to increase the duration of the ban on catching brood hilsa to 15 days.
It used to be 11 days in October.
Hilsa contributes to 11 percent of total fish production in the country.
The government has been providing over35.846 tonnes of rice in subsidy to 2.24 lakh fishermen, an initiative taken to help increase hilsa production, the minister said.
This year the national fisheries week
is being observed with the theme "Sagar Nadi Shakal Joley, Machh Chashe Shona Foley". Starting yesterday, the fisheries week continues until August3.
The minister said alongside increasing production of hilsa, the government has taken up an initiative to introduce long-liner commercial fishing trawlers to catch tuna from
deep sea.
As lawful rights have been established over 118.813 square km area of the sea, the government has already taken an initiative for preservation of marine fishery resources by imposing a ban on catching of all types of fishes by commercial trawlers at the blue economic zone of Bay of Bengal for the first time in 2015. This ban lasted for 65 days from May 20 to July 23, the minister told the press conference.
Top officials from the fisheries sector, including Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Selina Afroza and Director-General of the Department of Fisheries Syed Arif Azad, among others were present at the conference.
Talking about welfare programmes undertaken by the government, Sayedul Haque said the government has distributed grants ofTk 1.19 crore over the last three years to the families of 247 fishermen killed at sea in natural disasters.
The government has already distributed identity cards among half a million fishermen across the country while another 15 lakh will get their identity cards by the end of this year, he