Conservation categories of siluroid fishes in North-East Sundarbans, India

Abstract

In stock fishery of North-East Sundarbans, siluroid fishes hold a remarkable position owing to the culture potentiality of many of them. Scales in fishes play significant role in protection and resistance against environmental stresses and the lack of scalation in case of siluroid fishes is supposed to be one of the reasons for their decline in eco-degraded aquatic habitats. 11 species of fishes belonging to 9 genera, 8 families under the order Siluriformes have been recorded from different water bodies of North-East Sundarbans, India. Fish Magnitude Value (FMV) of those catfishes were recorded especially by information harvested from local fishermen community and stakeholders as well as from market survey on fish landing. The extensive damage to the population of catfishes in the area has placed the fishes under threat categories. Following the IUCN guidelines and also through Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods, an attempt has been made to assess the status of such fishes. Trend analysis, Fish Magnitude Value (FMV) and Rank Based Quotient (RBQ) revealed 1 catfish as Endangered, 5 as Vulnerable and 5 as Near Threatened species. The situation warrants immediate attention of ecologists, administrators, managers and entrepreneurs to propose remedial measures for revival of the fishes. The study also delineates distribution, present status and conservation measures for revival of the fishes in North-East Sundarbans wet-land environment of West Bengal, India.