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Haor snails face extinction in indiscriminate hunting

MORSHED ALI KHAN and AZIBOR RAHMAN
Indiscriminate harvesting of snails and other shells for fish feed from the country's haors (very large wetland), baors (wetland created by former rivers), and bils (small wetland) is posing a serious threat to the biodiversity.
It is feared that the intense harvesting is set to drive the snail species into extinction within a matter of years. The entire chain of ecosystem of these wetlands, considered the richest in terms of flora and fauna, is under threat due to removal of one of the vital players of the ecosystem.
With rising number of fish enclosures, the demand for snails—a natural fish feed—is phenomenally high. From every haor and wetland tonnes and tonnes of snails are extracted and bundled to the enclosures. There seems no agency in the country to stop this plundering on the 373 enlisted haors and many other baors and bils.
With 257 species of birds, 40 species of reptiles, 29 species of mammals and nine species of amphibians, the 1.9 million hectares of haor areas of the country are considered one of the richest biodiversities in the world. It is also enriched by thousands of species of wetland plants.
Officials at Bangladesh Haor and Wetland Development Board, of which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is the chairperson, said it is the responsibility of the fisheries department to stop this plundering.
“We have a master plan to work for the development of wetlands around the country and that work involves several ministries,” said an official requesting anonymity. "The fisheries department has the mandate to stop plundering of the aquatic resources,” he added.
Director General of Department of Fisheries Syed Arif Azad told The Daily Star that his office was first notified about the plundering by officials in Gopalganj.
"The country's fishery laws do not recognise snail as a resource, yet we took up an awareness campaign in Gopalganj area,” he said. “We are now preparing amendments to the fishery laws to include snail as an aquatic resource.”
Shamimur Rahman, a zoologist and
lecturer at BM College, Barisal, said snails help retain soil fertility. If it dies its body acts as cementing agent for soil, he said. "Moreover, snail is a natural feed to birds and other aquatic animals. Its destruction means eliminating a vital component from the ecosystem.”
A Dhaka-based botanist Dr MA Sobhan said, “The way villagers are harvesting snails, it won' t be long before it goes extinct."
The Master Plan on Haor says the biodiversity of the haor regions makes it a unique wetland ecosystem. It must be protected to maintain ecological balance, protect the environment and improve the livelihoods of the region's poor, he said. Bangladesh is obliged to conserve biodiversity and protect wetland resources, as it has signed several international agreements and protocols.
Throughout the country between July and October, poor villagers of all ages and sexes collect snails and all other conch species for sale.
Ratna Bagdi, a class VI student of Sundarpur Secondary School in Jhenidah sadar upazila, collected 12 sacks of snails from Goral Bil this season and sold them for Tk 3,000. “I support my educational expenses by collecting and selling snails,” she said.
Like Ratna, many others of the upazila1 s Durgapur village, hunt snails for a living during the period. The villagers said the number of snails is dropping every year. "Every year it is becoming harder to find enough snails to sustain our living,” said Mofazzel.
Villagers admitted that removing snails from the haor will create problems for other animals and plants but they did not know of an alternative living. “This is near our homes and snails bring good amounts of money to men and women,” said Nikhil Bagdi, who earned Tk 15,000 last year.
At Chalabhara bus terminal, Rezaul Islam and Azizur Rahman own two separate buying sheds where villagers from three unions bring snails in 50-kg plastic sacks and sell each sack of snails for Tk 300. Rezaul said every day during the season each of them sends up to 70 sacks of snails to Khulna and Satkhira fish enclosures.