The Protection and Conservation of Fish Act, 1950 (East Bengal Act)

An Act to provide for the protection and conservation of fish in ¹Bangladesh. WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the protection and conservation of fishes in [Bangladesh]; It is hereby enacted as follows:-

Section 1. Short title, extent and commencement

(1) This Act may be called the ²* * * Protection and Conservation of Fish Act, 1950.

(2) It extends to the whole of ³Bangladesh.

(3) It shall come into force on such date as the ⁴* * * Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, appoint.

Definitions

⁵2. In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,-

(1) “Current Jal” means fishing net made of monofilament synthetic nylon fibre of different mesh sizes;

(2) “Fish” includes all cartilaginous, bony fishes, prawn, shrimp, amphibians, tortoise, turtles, crustacean animals, molluscs, echinoderms and frogs at all stages in their life history;

(3) “Fishery” means any water body, natural or artificial, open or closed, flowing or stagnant (such as river, haor, baor, beel, floodplain, canal etc.) where activities for growing fish, or for conservation, development, demonstration, breeding, exploitation or disposal of fish or of living organisms related to such activities are undertaken, but does not include an artificial aquarium of fish used as decorative article, pond or tank;

(4) “Fishery Officer” means any person whom, the Government or any officer empowered by the Government in this behalf, may appoint to carry out all or any of the purposes of this Act or to do anything required by this Act or by any rule made thereunder to be done by such officer:

Provided that, no police officer shall be so empowered;

(5) “Fishing net” means the nets which are specially meant for catching different species of fishes from water bodies and it is one type of fishing gear made of different types of yarns including synthetic yarns of different mesh sizes other than Current Jal. The common tanning materials of net are fruit of gab (Diospyros embryopteris) bark of Goran (Ceriops roxburghiana) and Coal-tar;

(6) “Fixed engine” means any net, cage, trap or other contrivance for catching fish, fixed in the earth or made stationary in any other way ⁶;

⁷(7) “Fish Sanctuary” means any area within or a whole water body declared by the Government in the Official Gazette where fish and other aquatic life are protected, allowing them to breed, thrive and move freely in a safe and suitable environment⁸;

⁹(8) “Water body” means any river or stream, estuary, canal, beel, haor, baor, lake, spring, or any similar nature or water-holding area, including dighi, pond, ditch, enclosure (gher), pit land, water-rich area, floodplain, borrow pit, and wetland either perennial or seasonally inundated or submerged.

Section 3. Power to make rules

(1) The ¹⁰* * * Government may make rules for the purposes hereinafter in this section mentioned.

¹¹(2) The Government may, by notification, apply such rules or any of them to any water or waters.

(3) Such rules may-

¹⁴(iv) the manufacture, import, marketing, carrying, transporting or possessing of such fishing nets, traps, gears and other contrivances as may be specified in the rules;

¹⁵(b) prohibit the destruction of, or any attempt to destroy, fishes by explosives, ¹⁶electrofishing device, gun, bow and arrow in inland water or within coastal territorial waters or Bangladesh marine fisheries waters;

Explanation.- For the purposes of this clause, “Bangladesh marine fisheries waters” means “Bangladesh marine fisheries waters” defined by clause (10) of section 2 of the Marine Fisheries Act, 2020 (Act No XIX of 2020).

Provided that the ¹⁹* * * Government may for the purpose of pisciculture, collection of data and scientific investigation for biological study on fish permit the catching of fishes in any closed season or in any prohibited water or below the prescribed minimum size and disposal thereof subject to the condition of the licence issued for the purpose ²⁰;

²¹(h) declare ‘Fish Sanctuary’ wherein catching or harvesting of fish or other aquatic organisms shall be prohibited either permanently or for the specific period for the purpose of protection and conservation of fish and aquatic organisms²²;

Explanation.- For the purposes of this clause, “Other Effective Area based Conservation Measures (OECM)” in aquatic environment means a geographically defined area within the aquatic environment, other than a protected area, which is governed and managed in such a manner as to achieve positive and sustained long-term outcomes for the in situ conservation of aquatic biodiversity, together with the associated ecosystem functions and services, and, where applicable, cultural, spiritual, socio-economic, and other locally relevant values.

²³(4) In making any rule under this section, the Government may provide for-

²⁶(c) the procedure for disposal of forfeited fixed engine, fishing net ²⁷, Current Jal or other contrivance or forfeited fish.

(5) The power to make rules is subject to the condition of previous publication; and the date to be specified under clause

(3) of ²⁸section 23 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, shall not be less than two months from the date on which the draft of the proposed rules was published.

(6) All such rules shall be published in the official Gazette and shall, unless some later date is appointed, come into force on the date of such publication.

Section 4. Power to prohibit sale of fish

The ²⁹* * * Government may, by notification, prohibit for a specified period the ³⁰catching, carrying, transporting, offering, exposing or possession for sale or barter of fishes below the prescribed size of any prescribed species throughout ³¹Bangladesh or any part thereof.

Prohibition about Current Jal

³²4A. (1) No person shall manufacture, fabricate, import, market, store, carry, transport, own, possess or use Current Jal.

(2) Whoever has in his possession Current Jal, shall, within 45 (forty-five) days of coming into force of this provision, surrender such Current Jal to the nearest police station, Office of the Fishery Officer or Office of the Upazilla Nirbahi Officer, and during that period an existing possession of Current Jal by any person shall not be deemed to be an offence.

Sustainable Fisheries Management, etc

³³4B. (1) Government may undertake measures in water-bodies regarding sustainable fisheries production, management and conservation.

(2) The Government may take action against the damage or destruction of fisheries ecosystems in beels, haors, baors, inland, and, coastal water bodies.

Penalties

³⁴5. (1) The breach of any rule made under section 3 or of any prohibition notified under section 4 shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which ³⁵may extend to 2 (two) years, or with fine which may extend to 5 (five) lakh Taka, or with both.

(2) The breach of any prohibition, described in section 4A, in connection with-

Power to confiscate

³⁸5A. When any person is convicted of an offence punishable under this Act or the rules made under this Act, the Court, before which he is convicted, shall direct that, any article or thing used or intended to be used in the commission of such offence, be confiscated.

Section 6. Arrest without warrant for offence under the Act

(1) Any person, specially empowered by the ³⁹* * * Government in this behalf, may arrest without warrant any person committing a breach of any rule under section 3 or any prohibition notified ⁴⁰under section 4 and 4A respectively-

(2) A person arrested under this section may be detained until his name and address have been correctly ascertained:

Provided that no person so arrested shall be detained longer than may be necessary for bringing him before a Magistrate or to the nearest police-station according to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, it will be lawful for the officer-in-charge of a police-station to detain a person produced before him under the preceding sub-section till he is produced before the Magistrate.

⁴¹(4) All Fishery Officers empowered by the Government shall have the same powers of search, seizure and investigation in respect of an offence under this Act as a police officer of the rank of Sub-Inspector; and any police officer, shall be destroyed after the lapse of 30 days, if in the meantime no one claims the same or otherwise initiates any other proceeding regarding his lawful claim thereto.

Cognizance, trial etc. of offences

⁴²7. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898)-

⁴³(c) no Court other than of a Metropolitan Magistrate or Magistrate of the first class shall try an offence under this Act; and

Section 8. Officers to be deemed public servants

All persons empowered to perform any functions under this Act shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the ⁴⁴* * * Penal Code.

Section 9. Indemnity

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against any person empowered to perform any function under this Act for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act.

Section 10. [Omitted]

[Repeal.- Omitted by section 11 of the Protection and Conservation of Fish (Amendment) Ordinance, 1982 (Ordinance No. LV of 1982).]