Effect of Ganges River Morphological Dynamics and Farakka Barrage on Upward Migration and Catch of Indian Shad (Tenualosa Ilisha) in Bangladesh

About the authors:

Hasan Faruque, MSc in Fisheries, Assistant Professor, Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh; hasanfaruque28@du.ac.bd

Dewan A. Ahsan, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh; dah@sam.sdu.dk

Maminul H. Sarker, PhD, Deputy Executive Director, CEGIS, Dhaka, Bangladesh Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services; msarker@cegisbd.com

Elena F. Gladun, Cand. Sci. (Law), Associate Professor, Department of Administrative and Finance Law, Tyumen State University; efgladun@yandex.ru

Abstract:

Tenualosa ilisha, the largest and single most valuable fishery, considered as the flag-ship species of Bangladesh, also commonly known as Indian Shad in South-East-Asia, is now becoming a threatened species due to human intervention and climatic factors. This study is aimed to assess the impact of the Farakka barrage and the Ganges River morphological dynamics on the Indian shad migration and catch in Bangladesh. Results have indicated that the average water level of the river Ganges during the breeding season of Hilsa has significantly decreased over time. This situation is even worse in some particular points like Satbaria of the Pabna district, Dadpur and Kalyanpur of the Kushtia district, Ruppur and Samadia of the Rajshahi district, where the water level (6.5-8 m) is much lower than the threshold (10 m). The findings of the study have also revealed that the Ganges River is very much dynamic because of the changes in width of the river, and the shifting of river bends is quite frequent over the period of time and is more diverse in the upstream region than downstream. The decreased water level and the frequent shifting of the river bends might force the Hilsa fish to restrict their migration towards the upper Ganges. As a result, CPUE (catch per unit effort) of Hilsa in the Ganges River has significantly decreased (about 50 kg boat-1 day-1 in 1960s to about 1.0 kg boat-1 day-1 in 2012), and in some areas there is almost zero catch.

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