Around 100 illegal banas (bamboo-made fence) for catching fish have been set up on a 50-km-long stretch of the Sati river in different areas under Aditmari and Kaliganj upazilas of the district.

As some local people are following this practice, professional fishermen are being deprived of the opportunity of catching fish in the Sati river, one of the biggest sources of fish in the district.

Ayub Ali, 56, of Kalistan village under Aditmari said, "Sati is one of the biggest sources of fish, and many people depend on catching fish in this river every day."

Mobarak Hossain, 45, of Shialkhowa village under Kaliganj, said, "There are around 100 illegal banas in the Sati river, but the owners never face any trouble from any corner."

Saber Ali, 65, a farmer at Kamlabari village under Aditmari, said the river is about half a kilometre wide during the rainy season, but becomes half as wide during the dry season.

"During the dry season some local

people catch fish by erecting banas in the river," he said, adding that bana users don't allow other local people to catch fish upstream of the river.

Sirajul Islam, 52, of Chaklarhat village of Kaliganj, said 10 tol5 people work together in each bana, and each of them can catch four to five kg of fish every day. "We sell the fish at around Tk 230 per kg in the local market," he said, adding that they catch fish using chatkajal.

"We invest Tk 70,000 to Tk 80,000 for making a 200 to 250-metre-long bana every year," said Hatem Ali, 48. "There is no shortage of fish in the Sati, although many illegal banas are being used," he added.

Professional fisherman Narayan Chandra Das, 50, of Bamonerbasa village under Kaliganj, said they catch fish during the rainy season when there are no banas, but they face obstacles during the dry period when local people erect banas. "We have been facing this problem for the last ten years," he added.

District Fisheries Officer Latiftir Rahman said he will take steps to free the Sati river from banas, and everybody will be able to catch fish.