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A Ramsar site in Bangladesh fast loses its fish diversity amid government inaction

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Born and raised in the locality of one of Bangladesh’s Ramsar site Tanguar Haor, 58-year-old farmer Bazlur Rahman says he feels proud to belong to the scenic swamp. A wetland that the country’s fisheries department says is a crucial hub of breeding fishes. At the same time, he says he feels frustrated witnessing the decline in Tanguar Haor’s fish diversity year by year. In response to which fish are found in the haor, or wetland, Bazlur lists over 50 names, but occasionally adds in between that many of them have disappeared. He could speak specifically about unavailable fish species including chital (Chitala chitala), pabda or pabo catfish (Ompok pabo), bacha (Eutropiichthys vacha), jhilang (Silonia silondia), nanid (Labeo nandina), mohashol (Tor tor), baghair (Bagarius bagarius), pangash (Pangasius pangasius), darkina (Rasbora rasbora) and tila (Channa barca). “I’m worried. Some of the fish that were available even a decade ago have become rarely available now,” Bazlur, who is also the president of Tanguar Haor’s Central Co-Management Committee (CCC), tells Mongabay. A 2015 report by IUCN cites the National Conservation Strategy (NCS)-Fisheries Report 2001 saying Tanguar Haor supports “nearly 141” fish species. However, IUCN found 134 fish species during the survey. However, a recently published study by Gulam Hussain, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish’s (FFILF) Asia regional coordinator, assesses only 58 available fish species in the haor. From a survey with the local fishers, Hussain identified that among the 58, 16 fish species are “commonly available,” 18 are “moderately available,” 12 are…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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