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EveryFish

River or lake, India

The Sundarbans

The world's largest mangrove forest, on the Ganges delta in India and Bangladesh, a vast nursery for fish and shrimp.

The Sundarbans covers about 10,000 square kilometres of tidal forest, creeks and islands on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna, shared between India and Bangladesh. It is the largest mangrove forest in the world and is known for its tigers. It is also a nursery for fish and shrimp that support millions of people across the delta, and both parts are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Life in the creeks

The tide floods the forest twice a day, carrying salt water deep inland, and fresh water pours down from the rivers in the monsoon. Mudskippers climb the roots at low tide, and scats, mullets, threadfins and young barramundi shelter among them. Hilsa pass through on their way upriver. Fishers work the creeks with small boats, gillnets and traps, and many collect tiger shrimp seed for farms, a practice that also kills large numbers of other young fish.

Under pressure

Fishing in the forest is hard and dangerous: fishers and honey collectors are sometimes killed by tigers and crocodiles. Rising seas and stronger cyclones, such as Aila in 2009 and Amphan in 2020, push salt water onto farms and ponds. Upstream dams and barrages reduce the fresh water reaching the delta, which raises salinity. Parts of the forest are closed to fishing as sanctuaries, and both countries limit how many boats may enter.

Still to be written: Giant mudskipper, Barramundi, Scatophagus argus, Ilish, Eleutheronema tetradactylum.

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