Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh: About 100,000 fishermen have become jobless after Bangladesh authorities and the Cox's Bazaar Fishing Association banned fishing in Naf River and the Bay of Bengal in fear of Burma's Border Security Force (Nasaka) and robbers, according to a statement by the Cox's Bazaar Fishing Association.

The association board is going to ban around 400 fishing boats from going to sea for fishing as of today. The announcement comes after fishermen were arrested by Nasaka or looted when they were fishing in the Naf River or Bay of Bengal.

Around 200 Bangladeshi fishermen are languishing in jail or are in custody in Maungdaw and Buthidaung Township this year without having committed any crime.  The fishermen have lost their lives and equipment to robbers who were both Burmese and Bangladeshi, the statement said.

There are 30 groups of robbers lurking in the area of Kutubdiya, Mushkali, Ukeya, Teknaf and Chawkawriya. Both police and the fishing association are searching for the robbers.

Annually, the fishing industry earns Taka 50 million from this area, but this year the fishermen lost equipment and earnings nose dived. Fishermen lost lives and some are serving jail terms in Burma, said Kala Meah, an owner of fishing boats.

"We fish in our territory but frequently we are accosted by Nasaka who tow our boat and fishermen to their camp and file cases alleging we are fishing in Burmese territory. The other danger is looting with robbers hiding in the border areas on both sides," he added.

"We will try to solve this problem, when we have a flag meeting. We always ask them to release our fishermen, sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail," said a Bangladesh border security force (BDR) officer who didn't want to be named.