As a riverine country, Bangladesh once had an astonishing diversity of freshwater fish. Rivers, canals and beels were full of native species, and fish come first in any account of Bengal's richest heritage.
Losing native species
The Bengali love of fish, "mache bhate Bangali", is world-famous, and rivers and beels were stores of wild fish. Researchers say Bangladesh has 260 freshwater fish species. But population growth, climate change and carelessness have polluted rivers and canals and are destroying wetlands, and many native species are disappearing with them.
Overfishing, shrinking water bodies and other causes have also pushed many species to the brink. In 2015, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published a list of 64 threatened fish species.
Bringing them back
The Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) has long been working to bring endangered fish back to people's plates.
Source: Shykh Seraj, Hridoye Mati O Manush. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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