Dhonagoda River: Threats Investigation of River and Biodiversity for Policy Implementation

摘要

The River Dhonagoda is one of the important Rivers of Chandpur district with diverse fish biodiversity andsupports livelihood for fisher’s community. The present study was conducted from January 2016 to September 2017to determine the threats on the River Dhonagoda and fish biodiversity and to document fish species with theirpresent conservation status both in the context of Bangladesh and global aspects. The major threats to DhonagodaRiver and its fish biodiversity were found to be the illegal River encroachments, use of River bank soil, indiscriminatekilling and overexploitation of fish fry and fingerling, habitat destruction, use of destructive fishing gear and methods,silt bed, water pollution and lack of proper management initiatives. A total of 56 fish species were documentedbelonging to 9 orders and 23 families. The most dominant order was found to be Siluriformes consisting 32% of thetotal fish population. Cyprinidae was found to be the richest family (21.4%). In the studied areas 15 common groupswere recorded where Catfish contributes the highest percentages (32%). River-Estuary was found to be the biggesthabitat for the maximum number of fishes (50%). Among the total identified fish species from the River Dhonagoda,13 threatened fish species (19%) were recorded in which 6 species (46%) were found as Vulnerable (VU), 5 species(38%) as Endangered (EN) and 2 species (16%) as Critically Endangered (CR). To save the River and to conserveits fish biodiversity best management practices have to be adopted and strictly implemented by the proper authority.