Study on Present Status of Fish Biodiversity in Wetlands of Sylhet District, Bangladesh

The study was conducted to identify the present status of fish biodiversity in the wetlands of Sylhet district for a period of 12 months from January 2014 to December 2014. It was done by questionnaire interviews (QI) of fishers, focus group discussions (FGD), and key informant interviews (KII) and secondary data collection. During the study period, a total of 58 fish species under 21 families were recorded. The species availability status was remarked in four categories and obtained as 24 commonly available, 16 moderately available, 18 rarely available species. Highest number of commonly available species was found in October to December and lowest number of commonly available species was observed in March to April. Among 54 threatened fish species listed by IUCN Bangladesh, about 30 species were found 10-15 years ago in those wetlands but only 23 were found during the study period. It is revealed that there has been gradual reduction of fish diversity in the wetlands of the area of Sylhet district and average fish catch per fisherman per day was also reduced. Community based fisheries management, fishing gears maintenance, sanctuary establishment and management, implementation of fish acts and regulations, stocking of fish fingerling in the open waters, dredging of beels and raising public awareness can play a great role in conserving fish biodiversity.