Death by poison: A constant threat for Sundarbans crustaceans and fish

A few drops of poison are all it takes to decimate fish and crustacean stocks in a Sundarbans canal. The poachers who cruise the waterways of the world's largest mangrove forest in search of valuable shrimp and crabs regularly use poison. Crustaceans clamber ashore within minutes to escape the toxin and are easily collected. Fish die en-masse, carcasses left to float away on current and tide.

Delip, Akkas and Yakub, three locals from Chila village in Mongla upazila, told this correspondent that they illegally fish with poison in the Sundarbans canals. They were interested in crabs and shrimp due to high market prices, they said, rather than the fish. Having collected the crustaceans from an area, they quickly flee.

“Some locals from Marapasur, Dangmari, Jhapshi and Jongra villages in the Sundarbans area are known to persistently fish using poison,” says the divisional forest officer of Sundarbans East Division, Mahamadul Hasan. “It's not only the canals they fish that are affected. The toxic water flows into the larger rivers, damaging the aquatic ecosystem there as well.” He says stern measures are taken against poachers who are caught.

“We have eighteen canals across the Sundarbans where all fishing is banned, because they are important spawning grounds,” says Bashirul Al Mamun, the divisional forest officer in Sundarbans West Division. “Yet fishing with poison has never ceased. In the last five years 37 poachers have been sent to jail for the crime; to protect fish breeding cycles, law enforcement agencies must continue to take stern action against any who violate the fishing prohibition.”

In June the Coast Guard detained another four fishermen who caught fish using poison. They were handed over to the Koyra Police Station in Khulna. “We take poaching very seriously,” says Coast Guard operation officer, Lieutenant Abdullah Al Mahamud, referring to the recent arrests. “It's not only fish species that are being destroyed by poisons. The whole forest ecosystem is degraded.”

Yet despite efforts the poaching problem does not go away. One issue is the ready availability of the poisons used which, poachers claim, can be collected from any pesticide shop.

“Insecticides like Ribcod are designed for the agricultural sector,” says one pesticide shop owner, Maruf Molla, “but they are also used for fish poaching. This pest control chemical which is approved by the agriculture department is widely available.”

In this regard, Mongla Upazila Agriculture Officer Abdullah Al Mamun urged the administration to be tough on offenders in order to prevent misuse of this pesticide.

The Sundarbans are home to about three hundred species of fish.