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(July 21, 2022) Bangladesh Is First Country to Place All Guitarfish and Wedgefishes Under Strict Legal Protection Dhaka, Bangladesh – Sept. 28, 2021 – This week the Government of Bangladesh took a major step to improve the protection of threatened sharks and rays by updating the list of species and species groups under the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012. The updated list empowers the strict protection of eight genera and 23 shark and ray species, while allowing the su...

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(February 22, 2018) By Nadim Parves[The is the fifth blog in a series about the WCS-led marine megafauna survey, which is gathering data on whales, sea turtles, sharks, and other marine species inhabiting the coastal waters of Bangladesh. Data from the effort will identify biologically important locations for future consideration as marine protected areas.]As we sailed southeast from St. Martin’s Island towards deeper waters, we scanned the waters for marine mammals. Sighting conditions have been po...

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(February 16, 2018) [Note: This is the fourth blog in a series about the WCS-led marine megafauna survey, which is gathering data on whales, sea turtles, sharks, and other marine species inhabiting the coastal waters of Bangladesh. Data from the effort will identify biologically important locations for future consideration as marine protected areas.]In 2011, I was in the middle of completing my post graduate degree in Nha Trang, Vietnam. I attended class every day to study fisheries management, hoping and...

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(February 11, 2018) By Shanta Shamsunnahar  [Note: This is the third blog in a series about the WCS-led marine megafauna survey, which is gathering data on whales, sea turtles, sharks, and other marine species inhabiting the coastal waters of Bangladesh. Data from the effort will identify biologically important locations for future consideration as marine protected areas.]  The WCS marine megafauna survey currently underway along the coast of Bangladesh involves two vessels. The larger vessel follows...

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(January 26, 2018) [The is the second blog in a series about the WCS-led marine megafauna survey, which is gathering data on whales, sea turtles, sharks, and other marine species inhabiting the coastal waters of Bangladesh. Data from the effort will identify biologically important locations for future consideration as marine protected areas. Neha Simlai is an international management consultant for WCS’s Bangladesh Program and a research participant in the survey]  On Christmas morning I was sipping a w...

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(January 12, 2018) The densely populated country of Bangladesh is a land crisscrossed by an intricate system of hundreds of rivers, including the mighty Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river system. These enormous freshwater inputs, combined with the bio-productivity from the world’s largest mangrove forest, feed into the Bay of Bengal – of which 166,000 square kilometers belong to Bangladesh.Extraordinary oceanographic conditions in these waters, including a part of the submarine canyon known as Swatch-of-N...

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(June 01, 2016) Akkas Ali is a fisherman from Kachua, Vasha Bazar in the Bagerhat district of Bangladesh. He has been fishing in the Bay of Bengal for almost 20 years and has been a witness to the slaughter of dolphins. Most of these deaths were accidental – the dolphins became entangled in the nets of fishermen, and died. In the last two years three dolphins were killed after being trapped in Akkas Ali’s own fishing nets. At least five species of dolphins, one species of porpoise and two speci...

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(November 04, 2014) “Swatch of No Ground Marine Protected Area” is Bangladesh’s first MPA New marine protected area announced as run-up to World Parks Congress in Sydney, Australia (Nov. 12-19) New York (November 3, 2014)—The Government of Bangladesh has created the country’s first marine protected area that will now safeguard whales, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, and other oceanic species, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society. The creation of the “Swatch of No Ground...

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(January 14, 2011)