Mahua Das

Biodiversity Loss by Trawl Netting in West Bengal Offshore: Biodiversity is Lost by Trawl Netting Damaging Marine Food Chain in Mangrove Food Web Demanding Sustainable Development Mahua Das

Marine ecosystem active in West Bengal offshore including ?Sundarbans? exhibits an excellent breeding - nursing ground of uncountable marine species. With increasing demand for fish, commercial trawling is intensified very fast by modern bull trawlers specialy in Digha and Shankarpur offshore which is very likely to have destroyed undersea habitat of benthic species forming extensively broad baseline of marine food chain. Richness of benthic biodiversity is proved to be inversely related to the offshore distance because benthic nutrients deposition getting thinner with increasing offshore distance. Higher loss of benthic biodiversity takes place at shallower continental shelf closer to coast because of maximum benthic nutrient deposition at this submarine zone and vice versa. Loss of these species must also endanger the existence of all of their predators causing an irreparable loss to entire marine ecosystem of West Bengal offshore. This study finally chalked out a proper Environmental Management Plan highlighting some curative and preventive measures for the best conservative use of these prospective marine resources ensuring maximum environmental protection of ?Sundarbans?(World