Fish sanctuary as a sustainable management tool for recovering fish biodiversity, production and livelihood: A case study on Halti Beel tank sanctuary, Bangladesh

Abstract

Fish sanctuary is a common tool for retrieving fisheries diversity in a threatened aquatic ecosystem. The present study highlighted a case study on sustainable management of Halti Beel tank sanctuary, Bangladesh (a part of Chalan Beel) established for the betterment of fisheries and fishermen community. The study was conducted for a period of 6 months from July to December 2017. Both primary and secondary data was used for a comparison before and after effects of Halti Beel tank sanctuary considering three parameters viz., fisheries diversity, production trends and socio-economic condition of fishermen community. During the study period, diversity in both native and exotic fish species (71) were increased where 62 species were native and 9 were exotic under 26 families of 11 orders. This number (71) was observed 97.22% higher than the number of species before declaring Halti Beel tank as fish sanctuary. Recovery rate was observed highest for the order Siluriformes (11) and the lowest for Channiformes (1). Cypriniformes was the most diversified order with 24 species (18 native and 6 exotic species). The observed data showed a dramatic increase in fish production from 8.77 to 37.50 metric ton within four fiscal years whereas the gradual production trend was recorded 10.12, 29.47, 35.10 and 37.50 metric ton, respectively in the year 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2014-2015 and 2016-2017. The study was also showed a satisfactory improvement in financial and housing assets as socio-economic status of fishermen community involved in the management of Halti Beel tank sanctuary.

Fish Diversity of Chalan Beel in Relation to Fish Sanctuary

“…This may be due to the age and management of the sanctuary. Sanctuary of Halti beel and Kumari beel are permanent (Siddique et al 2020) and managed by CBFM under DoF, but sanctuary under present study was newly established and temporary. The sanctuary provides shelter, breeding condition and food availability all the year, whereas a newly established sanctuary has yet to support this environment.…”

“…The percent composition of each species was more or less same for the two years, but total catch showed a 6% increase. Retrieval rate was very poor compared to that of Halti beel tank fish sanctuary where 35 species were newly added (Siddique et al 2020); Matshyarani fish sanctuary where 32 species were retrieved (Hasan et al 2012); and Kumari beel sanctuary where 16 species were retrieved (Joadder et al 2016). This may be due to the age and management of the sanctuary.…”

“…To improve this situation several suggestions were made, and setting up of sanctuary was one of them which was recommended by Akhtaruzzaman and Alam (2014); Hossain et al (2009); Galib et al (2009);and Joadder et al (2016); Sultana et al (2019). Fish sanctuaries have been shown to be good way to protect the variety of fish in a water body and in some cases, to keep the habitat from being destroyed (Siddique et al 2020). In view of this, a total of 40 fish sanctuaries were established in different parts of Chalan Beel by the department of fisheries (DoF) from 2006-2007 to 2016-2017 fiscal years.…”

“…Studies regarding impact of sanctuary are relatively less. Joadder et al (2016) stated effect of sanctuary on biodiversity in beel Kumari, and Siddique et al (2020) in Halti beel. So, the present study was undertaken to assess the biodiversity status by comparing species composition, biodiversity index and total catch before and after the establishment of the sanctuary at Tarash upazila of Sirajganj district.…”

Fish Sanctuaries as an Ecological Approach to Management for Restoring Fish Biodiversity: A Study on Chikadubi Beel Fish Sanctuary, Bangladesh

“…According to Siddique et al [13], "the number of fish species (71) where 62 species were native and 9 were exotic under 26 families of 11 orders in the Halti Beel sanctuary of Piprul Union established by Noldanga Upazila Fisheries Office Noldanga, Natore". The present study of the impact of fish sanctuary on fish biodiversity in chikadubi beel result was closely related with the study of Halti beel fish sanctuary as per result a total of 78 fish species under 21 families were recorded in the catches of different gears used by the fishermen in Chikadubi beel.…”