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

The fish biodiversity of open water is reducing as rice culture has been intensified due to other environmental threats. The establishment of a fish sanctuary is a way to conserve fish for future generation. A study was conducted to know the impact of the sanctuary on fish biodiversity for six months from August to December 2020. Various Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools were used such as Questionnaire interviews, focus group discussion (FGD), Catch monitoring and cross-check interviews were carried out. Data were collected from 50 fishermen using a semi-structured questionnaire interview, Group discussion, and gathering secondary information from different sources. According to the findings, 78 fish species were recorded in the study area where 60 fish species were recorded to be found before establishment of the sanctuary. Baseline production of the sanctuary was 0.58 MT/ha in 2015 which increased to 1.12 MT/ha in 2020 after establishment of the sanctuary. The highest total number of fish species were caught in August (68.45%) and lowest (41.55%) in December in the Chikadubi beel. The dominant fish species in Chikadubi beel was Freshwater shark (Wallago attu) followed by Spotted snakehead (Channa punctatus), Indian river shad (Gadusia chapra) and Jatiputi (Puntius sophore) whereas the least available fish species was Koitor poa (Johnius coitor). Among the total catch comprises different family such Cyprinidae 58.33%, Channidae 16.60%, Bagridae 14.58%, Siluridae 6.25% & Schilbeidae 8.33 % respectively. The outcomes suggest that careful planning, management and regular practices, along with active community participation, can have positive impact on fish sanctuary.