• Maria Fernandes
• Goutam Sengupta
• Nabonita Pal
• Abhijit Mitra

West Bengal is a maritime state in the north-eastern part of Indian sub-continent adjacent to Bangladesh, with a coastal area of 10,158.22 sq. km. The coastal zone comprises of the famous mangrove ecosystem of Indian Sundarbans, which can be divided into various transects on the basis of salinity. The practice of wild harvest of tiger prawn seeds in the present geographical locale is the greatest ecological threat in terms of magnitude as a large variety of fish juveniles found damaged during the screening process. The present paper deals with the juvenile finfish count in three different salinity segments of the coastal ecosystem with particular emphasis on their spatial and temporal variations for a span of ten years (January, 2009 to December, 2018). This data bank has been generated from the wasted finfish juvenile samples that are thrown away after collection and subsequent segregation of tiger prawn seeds from the coastal waters. The ten years data revealed a sequential uniformity in all the selected stations, the diversity being maximum in the high saline zone and minimum in the upper stretch of the estuary where the salinity of the aquatic phase is lowest. Some conservation measures, in the form of alternative livelihood schemes have also been suggested at the end that can divert the tiger prawn seed collectors from this destructive practice encouraging positive conservation of fish germplasm in and around the Indian Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem.

Indian Sundarban, prawn seed collection, women shrimp fry catcher

"IMPACT ON FISH DIVERSITY IN LOWER GANGETIC DELTA DUE TO PRAWN SEED COLLECTION ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 4, page no.75-80, April-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1904I13.pdf

"IMPACT ON FISH DIVERSITY IN LOWER GANGETIC DELTA DUE TO PRAWN SEED COLLECTION ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 4, page no. pp75-80, April-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1904I13.pdf