![]() ![]() Minakshi Kalita, a researcher at Gauhati University, gives a concrete example to illustrate the point. “It seems that the profits involved are so enticing that they lead to illegal activity…we were shocked to find that snakehead fish were being poached from protected areas including Buxa and Dibru Saikhowa National Park,” he added. ![]() Fishers at the bottom of the trade chain told us that some, like the Golden cobra snakehead, can fetch more than five times the price of snakeheads that are sold for food,” said Aniruddha Mookerjee, consultant wildlife advisor at WildCRU. “We used intelligence gathered from commercial trade records to work our way down the trade chain right to the very source. In some cases, muddy soil is heaped to channel water away and expose snakehead burrows so they can be captured by hand. Methods used include nets, bamboo traps, plant poison and even mild electric shock to stun the fish. They found that collection of snakeheads from the wild is carried out all year round, with peak activity during the monsoon, when these species are at their “colourful best and breeding”.ĭepending on the species, fishermen catch snakeheads from all aquatic habitats, from fast flowing hill streams to lowland swamps, using a range of traps and fishing gear. The team visited fishing sites and local markets, and met fishermen and traders who gather the catch and forward it to exporters in Kolkata. Researchers gathered additional information on the harvest of snakeheads during fieldwork in Assam and West Bengal. Huge profits, snakeheads poached from protected areas “The lack of key data on wild populations, together with the recent spike in trade volume, is a serious conservation concern,” she further said. “The situation is especially difficult because of the complex taxonomy of snakeheads - we don’t even know exactly how many species there are, meaning that a species may become extinct before we even know that they exist and are scientifically described,” she added. Harrington said that for most of the species involved, there is little, if any, information on their population status or distribution, which means that the risk of overharvest is impossible to predict or manage. Some of these high-in-demand species are thought to be extremely rare and occur only in very restricted ranges,” Dr Lauren Harrington of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) of the University of Oxford and lead author of the study said in a statement to ThePrint. ![]() “There is a real risk that the exotic pet trade may threaten snakehead fish survival. All of these are sourced from the wild, with no control over their harvest or trade. ‘Species may be extinct before we know they exist’īeing among the few fish species that are able to breathe air and survive out of water for a length of time, many snakeheads thrive in swampy habitats and are potentially invasive.įor example, the Bullseye snakehead ( Channa marulius) has invaded rivers and swamps in Florida and some other US states, leading to an import ban in the US.Īmong the 21 formally recognised snakehead species found in India, at least 19 are in demand in the aquarium trade. The protection of freshwater fish in India is limited to national parks and sanctuaries, where the ‘removal of wildlife’ is not permitted under the Act, and to ‘reserved forests’, where fishing is prohibited under Section 26 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927.Īlso read: On World Wildlife Day, a look at some of India’s success stories However, none of the freshwater fish in India - with the exception of the pipefish - is included under any of the wildlife schedules of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. India has the highest diversity of endemic freshwater fish in continental Asia. The trade is dipping into protected stocks in national parks and sanctuaries like Buxa in West Bengal and Dibru-Saikhowa in Assam, with traders passing these off as legal harvest. Using export records of live snakeheads from India, the team found a sixfold increase in the numbers of these freshwater species exported worldwide between 20, driven by an increase in exports from West Bengal to China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. ![]()
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