1. Wetlands & Fish Status in Bangladesh
Ratargul Swamp Forest
Sajib Biswas
Department of Zoology
Jagannath University, Dhaka-100
2. Wetlands are defined variously to include a wide spectrum of habitats where the land is
inundated by shallow water or is saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and
duration every year that water becomes the primary factor controlling the environment and
the associated plant and animal life.
(Encyclopedia of Ecology, 2008)
Definition of Wetland
• Wetlands in Bangladesh include Haors, Baors, Beels, Jheels, Ponds and mangrove swamps.
• Wetland support an incredibly elaborate food web rich in diverse biotic communities
3. Name of Beels Area (hectare)
Aila beel 160
Kuri beel 73
Erail beel 320
Chalan beel 36800
Arial beel 14400
Chanda-Baghia beel 16600
Beel Dakatia 26 600
Name of Haor Palce Area (hectare)
Dekhar haor Sunamgang 325 ha
Ganjhuri Habiganj 15,900
Hakaluki haor Maulvi Bazar 36,400
Khaliajhuri Netrokona 15,000
Hail haor Maulvi Bazar 3643 ha
Humaipur Haor Kishoregang 6,260
Name of Baor & Lake Area (hectare)
Marijat baor 320
Kaptai lake 76600
Bogakine lake 60
Name Area (hectare)
Sundarban south 36790
Sundarbans East 31227
Sundarban west 71502
( Akonda, 1989; Nishat, 1993; Khan et al., 1994; Sultana and Thompson, 2007).
Different types of wetlands
4. Types Area(hectare)
1. Permanent rives and streams 480,000
2. Estuaries and mangrove swamps 610,000
3. Shallow lakes and marshes 120,000-290,000
4. Large water storage reservoirs 90,000
5. Tanks, ponds and ditches 300,000-400,000
6. Shrimp farms 141,000
7. Seasonally flooded floodplains 5,770,000
Total: 7,511,000-7,801,000
Distribution of types and areas of wetlands in Bangladesh
A simple definition was provided by hydrologist Saila Parveen, "Haor – seasonal wetland,
baor – oxbow lake, and beel – perennial waterbody.
5. 1) The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna floodplain
basins
2) The haor basin of north-east region
3) Lower Punarbhaba floodplain
4) Gopalganj-Khulna beels
5) Chalan beel
6) Surma-Kushiyara floodplain
Wetlands can be
divided into six
major divisions
( Alam and Chowdhury, 2003).
7. • The Padma River is one of the longest rivers
and it is believed to be an important
spawning and feeding ground for riverine
fish species of Bangladesh.
• A total of 71 species were recorded
belonging to 10 orders, 26 families and 54
genera. The most dominant fish order was
Cypriniformes contributing 28 species in 16
genera. Galib et al.(2015)
Padma River
8. • Hakaluki haor is the largest haor in Bangladesh
and enrich in fish assemblage.
• The Hakalukihaor falls under the jurisdiction of
two districts (Moulavibazar and Sylhet), five
upazilas (Kulaura, Baralekha, Fenchugonj, Juri, and
Golapgonj), and eleven unions (Bhatera,
Baramchal, Bhakshimail, Jaifarnagar, Barni,
Talimpur, Sujanagar, PaschimJuri, Gilachhara,
Uttar Bade Pasha, and Sarifgan
• Total 83 species of fishes in the haor have been
recorded belonging to 55 genera, 28 families and
10 orders. Iqbal et al.(2015)
Hakaluki Haor
9. • Tanguar haor, located in the Dharmapasha
and Tahirpur upazilas of Sunamganj
District in Bangladesh, is a unique wetland
ecosystem of national importance and has
come into international focus.
• Tanguar haor supports as many as 150 of
an estimated total of 200 wetland plant
species, 11 species of amphibians, 34
reptiles, 206 bird, 141 varieties of fish
species and 31 mammals are found in this
haor area. But there are 55 fish species
are threatened of which 28 are
endangered and out of 28 endangered
fish species, 17 are found only in Tanguar
haor. (Giesen et al. 1997)
Tanguar Haor
11. • Chalan Beel is located covering the 8
upazila of Shirajganj, Pabna, Natore,
Bogra in Rajshahi District.
• A total of 81 fish species including 72
indigenous and 9 exotic were recorded
under 12 fish orders, 27 families and 59
genera
• Total of 12 types of fishing nets, 5types
of fishing traps, 6 types of hooks and
lines and 4 types of wounding fishing
gears were found. Galib et al.(2009).
Chalan Beel
12. • Kaptai Lake is the largest man made lake
in Bangladesh.It is located in the Kaptai
Upazila under Rangamati Districtof Chittagong
Division.
• Kaptai Lake has the reputation of being very rich
in inland open water capture fisheries than
others in Bangladesh.
• Total 43 species under 10 Orders and 19 families
were found. The highest numbers of species
(17) were found under the family Cyprinidae.
• Keski (Corica soborna) and chapila (Gudusia
chapra) were the most dominant. Among the
species 40% and 23% were under the order of
Cypriniformes and Siluriformes respectively.
(Patwary et al 2014)
Kaptai Lake
13. Baluhor Baor (oxbow lake)
• Oxbow lakes, locally called Baors are semi-
closed water bodies, which are occupied by
the dead channels of the river in the
moribund delta of the Ganges . About six
hundred natural Baor covering 5,488
hectares exist in south-western districts of
Bangladesh (Khulna division: Jessore,
Jhinaidah, Chuadanga and Kushtia and
Dhaka division: Faridpur) with a significant
potentiality of fish culture .
• ‘Baluhor Baor’ and ‘Nasti Baor’ at
Kotchandpur and Maheshpur Upazila
respectively of Jhenaidah district. The total
area of Kotchandpur and Maheshpur upazila
are 165.66 km² and 419.53 km² Both Baors
are de-functioned part of the Kapotaksha
river.
• There were 288 fishers in Baluhor Baor and
they were divided into 18 sub-groups under
18 group leaders.
Golam et al (2019)
14. • The Sundarbans mangrove forest covers an area of
about 10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi), of which forests in
Bangladesh's Khulna Division extend over
6,017 km2 (2,323 sq mi) and in West Bengal, they
extend over 4,260 km2 (1,640 sq mi) across the South
24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas districts. The
most abundant tree species are sundri (Heritiera
fomes) and gewa (Excoecaria agallocha). The forests
provide habitat to 453 faunal wildlife, including 290
bird, 120 fish, 42 mammal, 35 reptile and eight
amphibian species. (Wikipedia)
• The mangrove waters support 53 species of
pelagic(relating to the open sea.) fish belonging to 27
families and 124 species under 49 families of
demersal (living close to the floor of the sea or a lake)
fish. (Islam et al 2004).
• Seidensticker and Hai (1983) reported that over 120
species of fish are reported to be commonly caught
by commercial fishermen in the Sundar-ban.
Sundarban
15. • The Bay of Bengal occupies an area of 2,172,000
square kilometres (839,000 sq mi). A number of
large rivers flow into the Bay of Bengal:
the Ganges–Hooghly, the Padma,
the Brahmaputra–Jamuna, the Barak–Surma–
Meghna, the Irrawaddy, the Godavari,
the Mahanadi, the Brahmai, the Baitarani,
the Krishna and the Kaveri. Among the important
ports are Chennai-
Ennore, Chittagong, Dolombo, Kolkata-
Haldia, Mongla, Paradip, Por
Blair, Tuticorin, Visakhapatnam and Dhamra.
Among the smaller ports
are Gopalpur Port, Kakinada and Payra.
• According to Dof-(2018)there are 486 species of
fish in Bay of Bengal
• And According to Hossain (475) 475 species of in
Bay of Bengal.
Bay of Bengal
17. • Alam S M, Chowdhury H M (2003). Wetland , Banglapedia: national encyclopedia of Bangladesh. Dhaka: Asiatic Civil
Military Press, 1–5 [Cited within: ]
• Nishat A (1993). Fresh water wetland s in Bangladesh: Status and issues. In: Nishat A, Hossain B, Roy M
K, Karim A, eds. Freshwater Wetland s in Bangladesh — Issues and Approaches for Management. Dhaka: IUCN, 9–
22 [Cited within: ]
• Akonda A W (1989). Bangladesh. In: Scott D A, ed. A directory of Asian wetland s. Switzerland : IUCN, 541–581 [Cited
within: ]
• Sultana P, Thompson P M (2007). Community based fisheries management and fishers lifelihoods: Bangladesh case
studies. Hum Ecol, 35(5): 527–546. DOI:10.1007/s10745-006-9092-3 [Cited within: ]
• GALLIB, S. & SAMAD, M. & Mohsin, Abm & AND, F. & Alam, Dr Md. (2009). PRESENT STATUS OF FISHES IN THE CHALAN BEEL
- THE LARGEST BEEL (WETLAND) OF BANGLADESH.
• Iqbal, Mohammed & Nasren, Shamima & Al Mamun, Muhammad Abdullah & Hossain, Mm. (2015). FISH ASSEMBLAGE
INCLUDING THREATENED SPECIES IN HAKALUKI HAOR, SYLHET, BANGLADESH. Journal of Aquaculture in The Tropics. 30.
233-246.
• Galib, Shams & Chaki, Nipa. (2015). Fishes of the river Padma, Bangladesh: current trend and conservation status. Journal
of Fisheries. 3. 259-266. 10.17017/jfish.v3i2.2015.111.
• Patwary, Md & Mamun, Abdullah-Al & Mahmud, Anisul. (2014). Dramatic Increase of Corica soborna and Gudusia chapra in
Bangladesh : It's Consequences on the Biodiversity.
• Giesen, W. and S.M.A. Rashid, 1997. Management Plan for Tanguar Haor, Bangladesh: Restoring Local Community
Participation in Wetland Resource Management, National Conservation Strategy Implementation Project, Phase-1, MoEF,
IUCN-Bangladesh, Dhaka.
References:
18. • Golam, Shakil & Ahamed, Shakil & Alam, Dr Md & Mazumder, Sabuj & Rashid, Aminur & Dey, Tanwi & Ahamed, Md &
Alam, & Mazumder, Monzurul & Islam, Aminur & Rashid, Tanwi & Dey,. (2019). Present status of oxbow lake fisheries:
Cases from south-western Bangladesh.
• Chandra, Ganesh & Sagar, R.. (2003). Fisheries in Sundarbans: Problems and Prospects. 10.2139/ssrn.2084014.
• Islam, Md & Haque, Md Mahfuzul. (2004). The mangrove-based coastal and nearshore fisheries of Bangladesh: Ecology,
exploitation and management. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries. 14. 153-180. 10.1007/s11160-004-3769-8.
• Patwary, Md & Mamun, Abdullah-Al & Mahmud, Anisul. (2014). Dramatic Increase of Corica soborna and Gudusia
chapra in Bangladesh : It's Consequences on the Biodiversity.
