Consequences of Climate Change on Fish Biodiversity in the River Turag, Bangladesh: A Community Perception Study

Abstract

Climatic factors have played a major role in the loss of biodiversity together with overfishing, deforestation, forest fragmentation and degradation, pollution in Bangladesh. The study examined the implications of climate change on fish biodiversity as experienced by the local people in the study area. It also elicited the local community's perceptions about the manifestations and consequences of climate change in the study area. The respondents reported that temperature fluctuations, rainfall change, early flood, and increased drought and siltation result in changes of breeding season, reduced fish biodiversity, wide variations in fish growth and taste. The respondent fishers and villagers, however, do not necessarily attribute these phenomena to climate change as a technical concept. Most of the people are conscious about fishery-sector regulations since majority people are the beneficiaries of several donor supported project initiatives such as Management of Aquatic Ecosystems through Community Husbandry (MACH), Nishorgo Support Project (NSP) and Integrated Protected Area Co-management (IPAC) projects. The government and NGOs should continue sustainable conservation management programs along with fish restocking and create alternative income sources during the fishing ban period. This research may help to better understand the present and future effects of climate change on fish biodiversity at the community level, while offering some clues into fisheries policy and regulations.