Bangladesh oil spill 'threatens rare dolphins'

Bangladesh officials warn that an oil spill from a crashed tanker is threatening endangered dolphins and other wildlife in the massive Sundarbans mangrove region, branding the leak an ecological ‘catastrophe’

Thursday 11 December 2014 10.23 GMT

An oil spill from a crashed tanker is threatening endangered dolphins and other wildlife in the Sundarbans mangrove region.

Bangladesh officials have called the leak an ecological “catastrophe”.

The tanker, carrying an estimated 350,000 litres (75,000 gallons), of oil collided on Tuesday with another vessel and partly sank in the Sundarbans’ Shela river, home to rare Irrawaddy and Ganges dolphins.

Although officials are unsure how much oil has spilled, they warned the slick has spread to another river as well as a network of canals in the vast Sundarbans delta.

“The oil spill has spread over a 60km-long (37 mile) area in the Shela and Passur rivers,” said Amir Hossain, chief forest official of the Sundarbans.

“It’s a catastrophe for the delicate ecology of the Sundarbans. The oil spill has already blackened the shoreline, threatening trees, plankton, vast populations of small fishes and dolphins,” Hossain said.

“The symptoms of environmental damage will be visible soon, as the water quality has already been damaged,” he added.

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Sundarbans wildlife under threat from Coal fired power plant

Last refuge of rare wildlife under threat

October 2013. Conservation organisations worldwide have expressed deep concern over plans to build a coal-powered power station (or perhaps two). 

The Sundarbans is one of the largest mangrove forest in the world covering 140,000 hectares of the the deltas of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers on the Bay of Bengal.

The area is known for its wide range of fauna, including 260 bird species, the Royal Bengal tiger and other threatened species such as the estuarine crocodile and the Indian python.

A memorandum jointly signed by the Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and India contained a plan to build a power generation plant on the edge of the Sunderbans in Rampal; The treaty proposes to establish two 660 megawatt unit power plants in Rampal. The proposed spot for the plant is only 7.5 miles away from the Sundarbans mangrove forest.

Rare bird endangered

The Sundarbans of Bangladesh holds one of the last populations of the Endangered Masked Finfoot and is considered as a safe stronghold of this highly threatened species. Conservationists are now concerned about the future of this bird in the Sundarbans, where a coal-based power plant has been given the green light to go ahead.

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Human-Tiger Conflict: Are the Risks Overestimated?

Jan. 21, 2013 — A new study finds a complex web of factors increases perceived risk of tiger attack in the Sundarbans of Bangladesh.

Wildlife conservationists are well aware of the potential conflicts that exist between the endangered species they seek to protect and the human populations which inhabit areas where the animals live. Carnivores, such as tigers, pose a risk to humans and their livestock and can be killed because of this potential risk. Previous research has found that killing of animals can be motivated as much by social and psychological factors, such as perception of danger, as by any actual real risk posed by a species.

A new study published in the Springer journal Human Ecology has identified several key factors which may contribute to perceptions of risk from tigers in a conservation area in Bangladesh. The study, by Chloe Inskip and her colleagues from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology in Kent, UK, and WildTeam, Bangladesh, is the first to use participatory risk mapping (PRM) and in-depth interviews to explore the wider socio-economic context of human-tiger conflict.

The survey was carried out around the Sundarbans mangrove forests of south-western Bangladesh, home to one of the world's largest remaining tiger populations. Although there are no human inhabitants of the Sundarbans, eight sub-districts with a total population of around 1.7 million people lie directly adjacent to the forest boundary. Records indicate that approximately 30-50 people are killed annually by tigers in the area.

Read on:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130121103331.htm