Finfish Juvenile Destruction in and around the World Heritage Site of Indian Sundarbans and Possible Mitigative Steps- Juniper publishers
JUNIPER PUBLISHERS-OCEANOGRAPHY & FISHERIES OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL
West Bengal is a maritime state in the northeast part of the Indian sub-continent adjacent to Bangladesh, which has a coastal area of 10,158.22 sq. km. The coastal zone encompasses the famous mangrove ecosystem of Indian Sundarbans, which can be divided into various transects on the basis of salinity. The practice of wild harvest of tiger prawn seeds in the present geographical locale is the greatest ecological threat in terms of magnitude as a large variety of fish juveniles are damaged during the screening process. The present paper deals with the finfish juvenile count and diversity in three different salinity regimes of the coastal ecosystem with particular emphasis on their spatial and temporal variations for a span of ten years (January, 2007 to December, 2016). This data bank has been generated from the wasted finfish juvenile samples that are thrown away after collection and subsequent segregation of tiger prawn seeds from the coastal waters. The ten years data revealed a sequential uniformity in all the selected stations, the diversity being maximum in the high saline zone and minimum in the upper stretch of the estuary where the salinity of the aquatic phase is lowest (almost zero psu in monsoon). Some conservation measures, in the form of alternative livelihood schemes have also been suggested at the end which can divert the tiger prawn seed collectors from this destructive practice leading to a conservation of fish germplasm in and around the World Heritage Site of Indian Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem.
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