Spatial variation of carbon storage by Bruguiera gymnorrhiza

The tale of Hilsha.pdf

Indian Shad

Science of the Total Environment, 2019

Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) or river shad is an anadromous fish species widely distributed in the North Indian Ocean, mainly in the Bay of Bengal (BoB). Hilsa is the national fish of Bangladesh and it contributes 10% of the total fish production of the country,with a market value of $1.74 billion. Hilsa also holds a very important place in the economics of West Bengal of Indiawith 12.5% of the catch and also tops the marine capture in Myanmar. During the last two decades Hilsa production from inland waters has been stable,whereas marine yields in the BoB increased substantially. In order to sustainably manage the trans-boundary stock of Hilsa, the taxonomy, distribution, habitat, migration patterns, population dynamics, fisheries and socio-economics aspects of the fishery have been reviewed here. To achieve a successful trans-boundary management for the Hilsa stock, complete ban on undersize fishing, well-targeted temporal and spatial bans, creation of protected areas in strategic points, incentive for Hilsa fishers and ecological restoration of Hilsa habitats and more work on technological development of Hilsa aquaculture are recommended.

The neritic zone of the ocean is extremely important from the primary and secondary productions point of view as it receives major nutrients (ammonia, nitrate, phosphate and silicate-the raw materials for primary production) from adjacent landmasses and sustains the foundation community of marine and estuarine biodiversity-the phytoplankton. This community comprises of diverse species of tiny free floating floral components like Coscinodiscus sp., Chaetoceros sp., Fragilaria sp., Biddulphia sp., etc., which sustain fish spectrum in the neritic zone. Phytoplankton provide food to the zooplankton (the major groups include copepods, chaetognaths, harpacticoids etc.) of the pelagic zone, which are finally consumed by fishes (like herring, cod, flounder, bombay duck, hilsa etc.) that comprise the nekton community of the marine and estuarine ecosystems. Any change in the lower tiers of food web due to sea level rise, saline water intrusion, ocean acidification (as a result of lowering of pH) or temperature rise is likely to be transmitted to the members of higher trophic level (nekton). In this review article the thrust has been given to brackish water fish spectrum of Indian Sundarbans which includes both Osteichthyes and Chondricthyes.

Achievements_of_Dept._of_Oceanography.PDF

During the COVID period - our Dept has published 38 Applied papers, 4 books and participated in 22 webinars.

Based on Workshop held on 27 November,2010 at Cox'sBazar

Dr. Abhijit Mitra, former Head, Dept. of Marine Science, University of Calcutta (INDIA) has been active in the sphere of Oceanography and Climate Science since 1985. He obtained his Ph.D as NET qualified scholar in 1994 after securing Gold Medal in M.Sc from University of Calcutta. He has to his credit about 605 scientific publications in various National and International journals, and 52 books of postgraduate standards. Dr. Mitra is presently the member of several committees like PACON International, IUCN, SIOS etc. and has successfully completed about 19 projects on coastal pollution, alternative livelihood, climate change and carbon sequestration. Dr. Mitra visited as invited speakers in several foreign Universities of Singapore, Kenya, Oman and USA. He also served as visiting faculty at University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA. Presently his domain of expertise includes environmental science, mangrove ecology, sustainable aquaculture, alternative livelihood, natural resource management, blue economy, climate change and carbon sequestration. Dr. Mitra also served as ecological consultant of TATA STEEL and several Govt. organizations in the domain of biodiversity assessment and pollution control. Till date Dr. Mitra successfully supervised 43 students to achieve their PhD award.

Dr. Abhijit Mitra, Associate Professor and former Head, Dept. of Marine Science, University of Calcutta (INDIA) has been active in the sphere of Oceanography since 1985. He obtained his Ph.D as NET qualified scholar in 1994 after securing Gold Medal in M.Sc from University of Calcutta. Since then he joined Calcutta Port Trust and WWF (World Wide Fund), in various capacities to carry out research programmes on environmental science, biodiversity conservation, climate change and carbon sequestration. Presently Dr. Mitra is serving Techno India University, West Bengal as the Director of Research (Hon). He has to his credit about 615 scientific publications in various National and International journals, and 52 books of postgraduate standards. Dr. Mitra is presently the member of several committees like PACON International, IUCN, SIOS etc. and has successfully completed about 19 projects on biodiversity loss in fishery sector, coastal pollution, alternative livelihood, climate change and carbon sequestration. Dr. Mitra also visited as faculty member and invited speakers in several foreign Universities of Singapore, Kenya, Oman and USA. In 2008, Dr. Mitra was invited as visiting fellow at University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, USA to deliver a series of lecture on Climate Change. Dr. Mitra also successfully guided 41 Ph.D students. Presently his domain of expertise includes environmental science, mangrove ecology, sustainable aquaculture, alternative livelihood, natural resource management, blue economy, climate change and carbon sequestration.

A checklist of the marine fishes of Bangladesh is presented with their scientific, common and Bangla or local names. The global IUCN Red List catagories of these species are also provided. This inventory of the marine fish species is compiled from different major and valid published scientific papers, reports and books published within last 50 years from 1970 to 2020. The directory covers a total of 740 species belonging to 389 Genera of 145 Families and 30 Orders. Among the fish species, 53.38% are exclusively marine and 46.62% are found in both brackish and marine water. Besides, 296 species of fishes are reef associated and 204 of these are recorded from the Saint Martin's Island. Further, 271 species of brakishwater and/or marine fishes are commonly observed in the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem and its adjacent sea area. About 7% of the total marine fishes of Bangladesh are identified as threatened as per global IUCN Red List. However, the conservation status of the marine fish species of Bangladesh has not yet been assessed locally by IUCN which is essential. The updated checklist will constitute the reference inventory of marine fishes of the coastal and maritime area of the country.