BARISHAL, Bangladesh — Fishermen attacked a Bangladesh Coast Guard team during a raid on the Kalabadar river, in an operation that the Department of Fisheries said had been carried out without notice and in violation of jurisdiction rules.
The attack took place Monday afternoon in a canal connected to the Kalabadar river along the boundary of Mehendiganj upazila of Barishal and Bhola Sadar upazila. The Department of Fisheries confirmed the incident, saying the coast guard had gone on the raid without informing the department, in breach of procedure.
Mehendiganj upazila fisheries officer Omar Sani said a seven-minute video of the attack on the coast guard spread Tuesday. He said he learned of the operation only after seeing the video. On inquiry, he learned that a Bhola coast guard team had set out on two speedboats and chased fishing boats that were defying a hilsa-catch ban. The boats entered the waters of Barishal at the three-river confluence near Sripur union in Mehendiganj upazila and took shelter in a canal. When the coast guard speedboats entered the canal, the fishermen organized and attacked, he said.
Sani said two rules had been broken in the raid. First, the coast guard is required to bring fisheries officials along on raids; the Barishal and Bhola fisheries departments were not informed of this operation. Second, the Bhola coast guard had crossed its boundary into Barishal’s waters. He said he had informed his superiors in the Department of Fisheries.
Bhola Sadar upazila fisheries officer Mehedi Hasan gave the same account, saying he too had heard the Bhola coast guard had gone on the raid, but that the Bhola fisheries department knew nothing about it.
Lt. Mohammad Abul Kashem, head of the coast guard’s southern media cell, told reporters that a two-month ban on hilsa fishing in sanctuaries was in force. The coast guard had carried out the raid and seized hilsa caught in violation of the ban, he said, when the unpleasant incident occurred. He said footage from before the incident had been edited and circulated in a misleading way. On the absence of fisheries officials, Kashem said the seized hilsa had been distributed in their presence. The southern zone covers the rivers of eight districts, he said, so the claim of crossing jurisdictional boundaries was not accurate.
Barishal district fisheries officer Dr. Mohammad Hadiuzzaman said local fisheries officials had briefed him on the matter. The coast guard reportedly came from Bhola Sadar to conduct the raid in Mehendiganj, but they cannot do that, he said, and even when carrying out raids they must take fisheries officials along.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report