Conservation Efforts Win Again: From No Fish Eggs to Plenty Once More!

Conservation efforts have allowed fish eggs to return to Bangladesh’s Halda River after they had all but disappeared by 2016.

“Two major polluting factories – Asian Paper Mills and the 100-MW peaking power plant – have been shut down for the last three years as part of conservation initiatives, which ultimately reduced pollution by half,” explains Md Manzoorul Kibria, professor of zoology at the University of Chittagong and head of the Halda River Research Laboratory.

Conservation efforts began in 2018 to halt overfishing and pollution, allowing the fish to once again breed in the Halda. The river is the world’s only gene bank for various Indian carp fishes such as Ruhi, Catla, Mrigal, and Kalibaush. It is also home to around 147 endangered Ganges River dolphins.