Sundarbans Newz

03/06/2022

Blue-eared Kingfisher | বাংলা নাম: নীলকান মাছরাঙা | Scientific Name: Alcedo Meninting

📸 Photo Courtesy: Foridi Numan (Photo taken at Sundarbans, Bangladesh, 27/02/20)

31/05/2022

The Bangladesh Forest Department has announced a three-month ban on tourism and fishing in the Sundarbans from 1 June.

"These three months are the breeding season for most of the species of fish and hence the imposition of the ban in accordance with the Integrated Resources Management Plan (IRMP)," said Md Belayet Hossain, Divisional Forest Officer of East Sundarbans.

"The department has already stopped issuing entry permits to implement the ban, and vigil in the mangrove forest will also be increased," he said.

Usually, the ban remains in force from 1 July to 31 August. "But this year we are imposing the ban a month before in coordination with the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock," he said.

"This ban will help in the breeding and preservation of fish," he added.

ln the 6,017 square km of the Bangladesh's part of Sundarbans, there are 210 species of white fish, 24 species of shrimp, 14 species of crabs, 43 species of mollusca and one species of lobster.

28/05/2022

"এই বন কখনো বুড়ো হয় না। এর জাদুকরী পরিবেশ ও সমৃদ্ধ জীববৈচিত্র্য দর্শনার্থীদের ক্লান্ত ইন্দ্রিয় এবং আত্মাকে পুষ্ট করতে ব্যর্থ হয় না কখনো। সে কখনো কাউকে হতাশ করে না।"

এই বন কখনো বুড়ো হয় না। এর জাদুকরী পরিবেশ ও সমৃদ্ধ জীববৈচিত্র্য দর্শনার্থীদের ক্লান্ত ইন্দ্রিয় এবং আত্মাকে পুষ্ট ...

15/02/2022

নতুন করে ৩৫টি প্রজননক্ষম কুমির ছাড়া হল ভারতের পশ্চিমবঙ্গের সুন্দরবনে। সুন্দরবনের কলমি নদী, ভাইজোড়া খাল এবং লোথিয়ান দ্বীপের কাছে এই কুমিরগুলিকে ছাড়া হয়েছে। এর মধ্যে তিনটি পুরুষ কুমির এবং ৩২টি স্ত্রী কুমির রয়েছে বলেও পশ্চিমবঙ্গ রাজ্য বন দফতর সূত্রে জানা গিয়েছে।

যে কুমিরগুলি সোমবার ছাড়া হয়েছে তাদের আনুমানিক দৈর্ঘ্য চার ফুট। সোমবার দক্ষিণ ২৪ পরগনার ডিএফও মিলন মণ্ডল, এডিএফও এবং রামগঙ্গার ফরেস্ট রেঞ্জ অফিসার তন্ময় চট্টোপাধ্যায়ের উপস্থিতিতে এই কুমিরগুলি ছাড়া হয়। এই প্রসঙ্গে বিভাগীয় বনাধিকারিক মিলন বলেন, "প্রতিবছর কুমিরের সংখ্যা কমতে থাকায় কুমির প্রতিপালন করে নদীতে ছাড়া শুরু হয়েছিল। এর ফলে কুমিরের সংখ্যা বেড়েছে। গত বছর সুন্দরবনে ৫৫টি কুমির ছাড়া হয়েছিল। এইবার ৩৫টি কুমির ছাড়া হল।"

রাজ্য বন দফতরের সূত্রে খবর, ভগবৎপুর কুমির প্রকল্পে কুমিরের বাচ্চা হওয়ার পর সেগুলিকে প্রতিপালন করা হয়। সাধারণত কুমিরের বাচ্চাগুলির চার থেকে পাঁচ বছর বয়স হওয়ার পরই তাদের নদীতে ছাড়ার সিদ্ধান্ত নেওয়া হয়। একসময় সুন্দরবনের নদী এবং খাঁড়িতে নোনা জলের কুমিরের সংখ্যা উল্লেখযোগ্য ভাবে কমতে শুরু করে। সেই সংখ্যা বাড়াতেই প্রতিবছর সুন্দরবনের নদীগুলিতে কুমির ছাড়া শুরু করে রাজ্য বন দফতর।

১৯৭৬ সালে ভগবৎপুরে প্রথম কুমিরের ডিম ফুটিয়ে বাচ্চা প্রতিপালন করার প্রক্রিয়া শুরু হয়। ১৯৮২ সাল থেকে প্রতিবছরই সুন্দরবনের নদী ও খাঁড়িতে নোনা জলের কুমির ছাড়ছে পশ্চিমবঙ্গ রাজ্য বন দফতর।

(Anandabazar Patrika / Sundarbans Newz Via. Bengal Newz West Bengal)

সাধারণত কুমিরের বাচ্চাগুলির চার থেকে পাঁচ বছর বয়স হওয়ার পরই তাদের নদীতে ছাড়ার সিদ্ধান্ত নেওয়া হয়।

09/02/2022

লুঠ হয়ে যাচ্ছে সুন্দরবন। কিন্তু ছেড়ে কথা বলতে রাজি নন সেখানের মানুষ। ম্যানগ্রোভ বাঁচাতে এক অসম লড়াই লড়ছেন তাঁরা... | সৌজন্যে TV9 Bangla

30/01/2022

Sundarbans in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas District is the Cyclone capital of India, said Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune report.

Around 70% Cyclones in the area from 1961-2020 were severe.

27/10/2021

A 21-year-old man was killed by a tiger in West Bengal's Sundarbans area in South 24 Parganas District, Police said on Tuesday.

Sankar Bhakta, a resident of Paschim Dwarikapur village in Patharpratima Police Station area, went to the forest on Monday night to catch crabs along with a few others, they said.

Around 8.30 pm, a Royal Bengal Tiger jumped at him near the Dhuibhasani 8 area in the Sunderban National Park, and took him away, they said.

His body was found by forest personnel on Tuesday morning, they added.

The body was sent for post-mortem, police said. | Via. Bengal Newz West Bengal

29/07/2021

At the last count, there were 114 tigers in 2018 as per the Bangladesh Forest Department - an increase of eight since the 2015 tiger survey. In India, however, there were 97 tigers in 2019, up from eight in 2017.

The Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest comprising 10,000 square kilometres of Bangladesh and India, is the only place in the world where Royal Bengal tigers can be found.

In comparison to Bangladesh, the Indian Forest Department has been working hard for a long time to enhance the tiger population in the Indian Sundarbans.

Accordingly, its tiger population is growing faster than that in Bangladesh. Indigenous peoples that lived in the Indian Sundarbans have been relocated and CCTV cameras are being installed and public mobility is monitored and restricted at tiger sanctuaries. On the other hand, just a few years ago, shootings and abductions of bandits and law enforcers in the depths of the Sundarbans were an everyday occurrence in Bangladesh (this has now largely declined). Still, the movement of people in Bangladesh's Sundarbans is much greater than in the Indian part. People are free to enter the forest for honey, golpata, fish, forest timber, and firewood. As a result, tigers are becoming insecure in their habitat and conflict between tigers and humans is also on the rise.

To control public mobility in the Sundarbans, CCTV cameras should be placed in strategic locations and forest-dwellers should be rehabilitated outside the forest. Fish farming, cattle rearing, renewable fuels, and artificial honey farming projects and other operations can help to minimise the number of people who rely on the forest. It is possible to also reduce tigers' presence in areas where people live by installing solar panels between the forest and the locality. Bushes in the forest are diminishing due to illegal timber collection, making it more difficult for tigers - who prey mainly on small mammals and deer - to hunt. In addition, the water level and salinity are rising due to unnatural cyclones, storms, and tidal surges. Natural reservoirs need to be created to address this.

Besides the measures stated above, the reintroduction process may protect and increase the tiger population in the Sundarbans. The number of tigers has not grown as expected - if there were 20 adult female tigers out of 114 tigers, they should have raised at least 20-40 tiger cubs per year. But the number of tigers is not increasing that way, which may be due to the lack of genetic diversity in the population. Due to the small number of tigers, there is more likely to be inbreeding - which has the potential to cause morbidity and increase the mortality rate of tiger cubs. Therefore, it is necessary to bring about genetic diversity by increasing heterogeneity; this will help the tiger population by increasing the number of offspring as well as increasing the tigers' immunity and adaptability to different environments.

Reintroduction can be an effective way of increasing genetic diversity. By adopting a long-term project and through the following steps, it is possible to reintroduce a large number of tigers into the wild. First, 10 tigers can be collected from different zoos and safari parks in Bangladesh. The newborn tiger cubs can be raised in a greater area near the Sundarbans after six months of age and trained to hunt. These tiger cubs will then be released into the Sundarbans when they reach adulthood. Next, to avoid conflict with existing tigers, tiger-free regions should be selected for these new tigers. The tigers released into the wild should also be monitored by CCTV cameras. Last, to give them access to food, deer and pigs can also be released at the same site. A separate captive or semi-captive establishment near the forest can be operated for the breeding and rearing of pigs and deer for this purpose.

Management of human and natural factors as well as genetic factors must be taken into consideration in conserving tigers in the Bangladesh Sundarbans. The survival of such a small number of tigers in the face of severe climate change will be very difficult in the future. Therefore, along with other measures, reintroduction work should be started to rapidly increase the number of tigers in the Sundarbans.

(By Md Shahadat Hossain Shuvo / Deputy Curator at the Chittagong Zoo)