Pandit, D.; Saha, S.; Kunda, M.; Harun-Al-Rashid, A. Indigenous Freshwater Ichthyofauna in the Dhanu River and Surrounding Wetlands of Bangladesh: Species Diversity, Availability, and Conservation Perspectives. Conservation 2021, 1, 241-257. https://doi.org/10.3390/conservation1030019
Pandit, D.; Saha, S.; Kunda, M.; Harun-Al-Rashid, A. Indigenous Freshwater Ichthyofauna in the Dhanu River and Surrounding Wetlands of Bangladesh: Species Diversity, Availability, and Conservation Perspectives. Conservation 2021, 1, 241-257. https://doi.org/10.3390/conservation1030019
Pandit, D.; Saha, S.; Kunda, M.; Harun-Al-Rashid, A. Indigenous Freshwater Ichthyofauna in the Dhanu River and Surrounding Wetlands of Bangladesh: Species Diversity, Availability, and Conservation Perspectives. Conservation 2021, 1, 241-257. https://doi.org/10.3390/conservation1030019
Pandit, D.; Saha, S.; Kunda, M.; Harun-Al-Rashid, A. Indigenous Freshwater Ichthyofauna in the Dhanu River and Surrounding Wetlands of Bangladesh: Species Diversity, Availability, and Conservation Perspectives. Conservation 2021, 1, 241-257. https://doi.org/10.3390/conservation1030019
Abstract
This study was conducted in the Dhanu River and adjacent waters at Mithamain upazila (sub-district) under Kishoreganj district of Bangladesh to prepare a check list of available native fishes with their availability status, conservation perspectives, habitat preferences, population trends and intimidations. Data were collected monthly by direct field survey, focus group discussions, and personal interviews with fishers by using a semi-structured questionnaire and a pictorial check list of fish species. A total of 91 indigenous fish species of 59 genera belonging to 29 families under 11 orders were documented where 17.58% species was abundantly available, 27.47% was commonly available, 31.87% was moderately available and 23.08% was rarely available. Cypriniformes was found as the dominant order, consisting 37.36% of the fish species aggregation and Cyprinidae was the most dominant family with 32.97% of the entire species assemblage. Twenty four piscine species (26.37%) were under threatened category in Bangladesh which subsumed 3 critically endangered (3.29%), 11 endangered (12.08%), and 10 vulnerable species (10.99%). Notably globally threatened Cirrhinus cirrhosus, Channa orientalis, and Wallago attu were available there. Fish population trends of 24.18% and 59.34% of the entire fish species was found in decreasing trends in global and national level, respectively. Leading intimidation to the fish diversity was indiscriminately overfishing, followed by fishing by dewatering of wetlands, katha fishing method, use of deprecated fishing gears, climate change, etc. Minimization of anthropogenic impacts, assuring the flux of water round the year, enactments of fish laws, installation and management of fish sanctuaries, and raising public awareness can be effective for the conservation of existing fisheries resources.
Keywords
Beel, conservation, fish diversity, IUCN, native fishes
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
