Rangamati district administration has imposed a ban on fishing in Kaptai Lake from today. Every year, the authorities enforce the ban for three months from May 1 to July 31 for safe breeding and boosting fish production. During the period, mother fishes lay eggs in the lake. The district administration in a letter instructed the district officials of Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation (BFDC) to strictly enforce the ban during the period. BFDC officials in Rangamati said all kinds of netting, marketing, drying, preservation and transportation of fishes have been banned till July 31. District Fisheries Officer Mohammad Alamgir said as many as 19,476 fishermen, who earn their livelihood through fishing in the lake, have been brought under a three-month VGF (vulnerable group feeding) programme by the authorities to refrain them from catching fishes. Under the programme, each fisherman family will get 20 kilogram of rice per month during the ban period, Alamgir said. Mohammad Assaduzzaman, manager of BFDC in Rangamati, said during the ban a naval team will always be patrolling around the lake to prevent illegal fishing.