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Caught in the net: Unchecked shrimp farming transforms India’s Sundarbans

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KOLKATA — In the small village of Nagendrapur, located in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve (SBR) in the Indian state of West Bengal, a mere 6-foot-wide lane separates a vast wetland used for aquaculture from a cluster of poorly constructed shanties. One of these shanties is home to Roshanara Piyada, her husband, Saidulla Piyada, and their three children. “Every time it rains, saline water from the fishery overflows and floods our home,” said 31-year-old Roshanara while washing dishes at a freshwater pond next to the fishery. “We used to work as agricultural laborers before aquaculture started on this land. Now it has become tough to make ends meet,” said Saidulla, pointing to the wide landscape of aquaculture ponds with a thin line of greenery at the other end, some 600-700 meters (1,970-2,300 feet) away. “That is mangroves. They were closer, but these aquaculture people keep destroying them every year.” The land where they once worked was converted into a fishery a decade ago, an increasing trend in the region. The landowners leased the land to an aquaculture operator who now employs his own workers, leaving Saidulla, Roshanara and their neighbors jobless. “We are called to either till the land or build embankments before they refill the water in the fisheries at the beginning of each season,” said 48-year-old Saidulla. “But even that work is drying up now as the fishery people use heavy machinery,” Roshanara added. Their neighbors in the village and across other parts of the Sundarbans share similar stories.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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