A Study on Aquatic Biodiversity of Shuthi-Shaiduli River of Bangladesh

A total number of 88 species (78 fishes, 4 prawns, 1 crab, 1 snail and 4 reptiles) were identified from the Shuthi-Shaiduli River and its flood plains. About 10 types of operative fishing gear and craft were found in the river. Increasing rates of using current jaal (23.00-30.10%) and Kapuri jaal (17.60-20.90%) were identified as detrimental gear used to kill the different species during four years. A common increasing trend of using current jaal, Kapuri jaal (seine net) and FAD (fish aggregating device) were identified as detrimental gear killing different species between 2016 and 2019. The fish productivity decreased dramatically from 139.32±7.77 to 114.00±3.88 mt within four years and the total production percentage (%) also sharply decreased from 7.97% to 18.17% over the same period. As a result, commercially important 5 aquatic species namely nandina (Labeo nandina), olive barb (Puntius sarana), gazar (Channa marulius) and reptiles (Lissemys punctata and Kachuga tecta) were extinct, 17 commercially important aquatic species were at the edge of extinction (critically endangered, CR), 6 species endangered (EN), 25 species vulnerable status (VU), three species were identified as at lower risk (LR) and only two species of the river were not threatened (NT) in position between 2016 and 2019 in the river.