- Considering its intense breeding character and the threats the species poses to indigenous fish populations, the Bangladesh govt has currently banned suckermouth fish.
- The suckermouth catfish is especially an aquarium species that was imported into Bangladesh within the Eighties as a decorative fish and later launched into h2o our bodies which can be residence to the nation’s principal supply of indigenous fish.
- Nonetheless, in newest years, the amount of suckerfish has amplified manifold as native fish species have decreased.
- Beforehand, in 2002, Bangladesh banned two different fish species: African catfish and piranhas.
Wanting on the invasive character of the species, Bangladesh has final however not least banned the cultivation, breeding, transportation, sale and conservation of suckermouth catfish (Hypostomus plecostomus), because it regularly encroaches on neighborhood water our bodies and locations neighborhood species at likelihood.
The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock issued a gazette notification on Jan. 11 on this regard, defined Md. Zia Haider Chowdhury, a senior formal of the Division of Fisheries.
With an purpose to declare the species as invasive and unsafe to different aquatic species, on Sept. 25, the ministry issued a public notification to elicit evaluations from the general public as successfully as authorities on the choice to declare the fish “harmful and banned” by amending the present Safety and Conservation of Fish Act 1950.
Previous to that, the Bangladesh Fisheries Examine Institute (BFRI) carried out a analysis to uncover out the causes guiding the abundance of this distinctive species and its detrimental impacts on space fish belongings.
Researchers found the species to be completely different from the opposite close by species owing to its omnivorous dietary habits as successfully as bigger reproductive potential, stated Md. Anisur Rahman, director of BRFI, who led the examine.
“Primarily based on our outcomes and fear over our neighborhood fishes, we termed the fish species as malicious,” he said, incorporating that the fish species even mature and breed in extraordinarily polluted water just like the Buriganga River, precisely the place the quantity of dissolved oxygen is considerably underneath applicable phases.
A special study on US aquatic habitats additionally proposed the suckermouth catfish has unusual meals patterns as successfully as copy capability, which collectively produced them densely populated and larger in sizing, turning them into threats to native fish species.
The study, executed by the US Military Engineer Analysis and Improvement Centre, talked in regards to the species as a chance induce of disruption of aquatic meals chains and threats to indigenous species and aquatic plant communities.
Different banned fishes in Bangladesh
As for every the Security and Conservation of Fish Act 1950 (amended in 2002), the banning of any fish or aquatic species tradition in any of the nation’s h2o our bodies calls for an modification to the act.
Interested by the threats posed by African catfish and piranhas, the govt. has supplied folks two as banned fish species within the act of when in 2002.
Zia Haider Chowdhury instructed Mongabay, “We now have at present issued a notification for banning the suckermouth fish, which might be included within the subsequent modification of the act,” which is predicted quickly.
Particulars reveals that Bangladesh generates throughout 4.6 million tons of fish from three distinctive sources: seize, society and maritime, that are deemed the important thing and obtainable sources of protein for close by folks. As for each the Worldwide Union for the Conservation of Character, throughout 260 styles of freshwater fish species exist within the area.
Banner photographs: A suckermouth catfish. Picture courtesy of Bangladesh Fisheries Evaluation Institute.
Habitat loss, native climate change threatens Bangladesh’s native freshwater fish with extinction
Citations:
Hoover, J. J., Killgore, Ok. J., & Cofrancesco, A. F. (2004). Suckermouth Catfishes: Threats to Aquatic Ecosystems of the US? Retrieved from US Military Corps of Engineers Engineer Evaluation and Development Coronary heart web site: https://www.researchgate.internet/publication/255635508_Suckermouth_Catfishes_Threats_to_Aquatic_Ecosystems_of_the_United_States
IUCN Bangladesh. (2015). Crimson Guidelines of Bangladesh Quantity 5: Freshwater Fishes. Retrieved from https://portals.iucn.org/library/internet sites/library/paperwork/paperwork/RL-549.3-003-v.5.pdf
