The present survey disclosed the available fish biodiversity and the gears used for fishing in the Chinadi beel, Narsingdi, Bangladesh, for a certain period. Data was collected through face to face conversations using a well-structured questionnaire and cross-checked. About 51 species of fish under 7 orders and 19 families were found. The dominant order was found jointly for Cypriniformes (29.41%) and Siluriformes (29.41%). About 39 least concern (75%), 5 vulnerable (9.62%), 6 near threatened (11.54%), and 1 not evaluated (1.92%) species were observed. Fifteen different types of fishing gears (8 major categories) are used for fishing by the fishermen, of which seine net was the most leading gear. Most of the gears are banned for a period due to its unauthorized mesh size. The price of fishing gears was ranged from 2501,00,000 Tk, of which the highest price was for seine net. The uppermost catch per unit effort (CPUE) was found for ber jal that was 15–18 kg/day. Most of the fishing gear was operated throughout the year, but limited in the dry season. However, the variety of fish abundance and species diversity is declining day by day in this beel. To protect the fish diversity of the Chinadi beel, it is recommended to establish effective fishery management practices, monitoring overfishing, and awareness of fishermen is highly recommended.
The beel has a rich fish biodiversity and important for fisheries resources in the middle-east part of Bangladesh. About 51 species of fish under 7 orders and 19 families were found. Fifteen fishing gears (8 major categories) are used for fishing by the fishermen.
Now-a-days, biodiversity of fish was decreased due to over fishing, water pollution, heavy siltation, rapid urbanization and intervention of human.
Bangladesh is a riverine country immensely gifted with many inland water resources like rivers, beels, haors, baors, floodplains, canals, and many humanmade lakes. Bangladesh's inland water bodies are enriched with 265 species of freshwater finfishes approximately (
Besides the major flood plains of the river Padma, Meghna and Jamuna, there are thousands of large and small sizes beels present in Bangladesh. Among them, Chinadi beel is located in Dulalpur union, eight kilometers west of Shibpur Upazila in Narsingdi district of Dhaka division (24°03'40.2"N latitudes and 90°40'07.2"E longitudes) and 550 bighas (16,500 decimals) in size. The beel is significantly well-known in Narsingdi district of Bangladesh for its natural sceneries, fish production and also as a source of income for local fisherman. A large number of fisherman families are completely depending on the Chinadi beel resources and they use various types of fishing crafts and gears for marketable utilization of the Chinadi beel fishery assets. However, there is no record found on the fish fauna diversity status of the Chinadi beel. Therefore, the aim of this investigation is to provide information on the present fish fauna biodiversity status and the fishing gears used by the fishermen for fishing in the beel.
The existing study was performed in the Chinadi beel located at Shibpur upazila of Narsingdi district connected to Shitalakshya river (Fig. 1). The geographical location of the experimental area is 24°03'40.2"N latitudes and 90°40'07.2"E longitudes. The investigation was conducted for a time of 12 months from July to June. Data was collected personally through face to face interviews using well-structured questionnaire and cross-check (
Geographical location of the study area
A well-structured questionnaire with two parts namely fish diversity and fishing gears used for fishing was designed and data were collected through face to face interview with local fishermen. Sampling method (simple random) with questionnaire interviews was surveyed with 110 fishermen in the Chinadi beel area to collect the data. The interview with fishermen was completed at their residence and/or beel spots during fishing.
Fishing gears operated at Chinadi beel by fishermen were studied by direct physical observation. A measuring scale was used as a tool to measure mesh size of existing fishing gears. Direct observation was conducted to record data on fishing gear like shape and mesh size (cm) of fishing gears. Information about the price of fishing gear, species catch by individual gear, catch per unit effort (CPUE)/day and operation period of individual fishing gear were collected through interviewing with fishermen.
Data collection methods from fishermen and finalization after cross-check
Freshly caught unsorted samples of different gears were collected and then sorted species wise with the help of fisher's. Local name of each individual freshly samples were recorded from the fishermen.
After regular field study, the primary data were compared with the available secondary data to make a precise and composite picture of the present study area. Books, journals, Upazila Fisheries Officer (UFO) etc. were used to modify, cross-check and accurate the information. The collected gears were assorted under various major classes followed by
All the data were accumulated to analyze the findings. Tabular technique was applied by using simple statistical tools such as percentages and averages. For processing and analyzing the data “Microsoft Excel-2013” was used. After processing and calculating the data carefully, the most agreeable data was written to a final sheet from which is classified to reveal the results of the investigation. As a final point, based on the data type, it was illustrated in textual, tabular and graphical format to make the present findings easily understandable.
The Chinadi beel is a beel close to the Shitalakshya River where water level of the beel varying from different months that is ranged within minimum 1 ft to maximum 10 ft in depth. The maximum depth of water was noted during September where the beel became dry in winter season (February to April). In Bangladesh, about 260 freshwater fish species were recorded belonging to 55 families (
In this study depicts existence of total 51 species in 19 families under 7 orders (
Fish species percentage on the basis of order in the Chinadi beel
In previous, there has not been studied about Chinadi beel and so far. But it was reported that a total 47 fish species were found in BSKB beel (
In the Chinadi beel, about 39 least concern (75%), 5 vulnerable (9.62%), 6 near threatened (11.54%) and 1 not evaluated (1.92%) species were observed according to the IUCN conservation status of global (
IUCN conservational status (%) of available fish species in the Chinadi beel
About 44 non-resident species fish and resident species identified from Pirla beel under Netrokona district in which 30 were common, 9 rare and 5 highly endangered (
According to
The fishery of the Chinadi beel is multispecies and multigear in nature. Fishermen use numerous types of fishing gears for fishing based on seasons and water depth of the beel. Variation in net types, lengths as well as mesh sizes of the net varying based on the fishermen choice, economic conditions of the persons involved in fishing practices and also the abundance of fish.
A total of eight (8) types of gears were found during the survey used by the fishers. Categorization of different fishing gear with their shape, mesh size, major species caught, price, catch per unit effort (CPUE) and operation period in the beel are showed in
The fishermen also used lift net (11.82%), push net (6.36%), cast net (10.91%), traps (4.55%), hooks and line (4.55%) and wounding gear (2.73%). The result stated that the seine net was highly preferable gear by the fishermen. In
Netting, spearing, trapping, angling, and fishing are the mostly used fishing techniques maintained Bangladesh (
In
The maximum CPUE was recorded for
Most of the fishing gears in this study are illegal due to its mesh size and destructive behavior of fish biodiversity (
Fishing gear used by fishermen in the beel
Number of species caught by fishing gear in the Chinadi beel
Generally fish was caught throughout the year using different fishing gears. It was found that February, March and April are dry season and therefore limited numbers of fishing gear are used here. Mainly lift nets, traps, hooks, and lines were used during the dry season (
The present investigation revealed that the fish biodiversity availability and the fishing gears used for fishing in the Chinadi beel. The beel has a rich fish biodiversity and important for fisheries resources in the middle-east part of Bangladesh. None Governmental as well as private survey has not been performed about the estimation of fish fauna biodiversity and fishing gears used for fishing of Chinadi beel. But now-a-days, biodiversity of fish was decreased due to over fishing, water pollution, heavy siltation, rapid urbanization and intervention of human. All these causes have been generated a high impact on ecology and ecosystem of beel. However, the water quality of the beel is also deteriorating day by day resulting in decreasing of availability of fish species and other aquatic biodiversity occur gradually. Extensive research on biodiversity and fishing gears are much crucial to know the variations of biodiversity and livelihood of the fishermen community for their development and sustainable fishery management. For fish species diversity protection of Chinadi Beel the Community Based Fisheries Management system and sustainable fisheries management practices must be acquainted among the fishermen.
The authors wish to thank Md. Saiful Islam, Assistant Director, BIBIYA Dairy, Agro and Food Ltd., Nikunja-2, Khilkhet, Dhaka-1229, Bangladesh for his valuable support. Authors also thank to the local fishers of the Chinadi beel, Narsingdi district, Bangladesh for helping us to collect data.