How Collapsing Aquatic Ecosystems Affect Fishing Communities: A Case Study of Dublar Char

Dublar Char,Sundarban,Bangladesh

The seasonal fishing village of Dublar Char in Bangladesh’s Sundarbans, where approximately 35,000 fishermen from Khulna, Bagerhat, and Chattogram and others converge annually from October to March, is a cornerstone of the nation’s dried fish industry, supplying 80% of Bangladesh’s demand. However, the collapse of the Sundarbans’ aquatic ecosystem, driven by mangrove loss, a catastrophic 2014 oil spill, plastic pollution, and climate change-induced cyclones, threatens not only this vital industry but also the very survival of its fishing community. This crisis exposes systemic failures in environmental governance, economic inequity, and social neglect, leaving fishermen trapped in a cycle of poverty, danger, and despair.

Deforestation, illegal shrimp farming and unplanned coastal development are thought to have driven a 40% loss of mangroves since the 1980s in that area, also leading to the decline in fish breeding grounds. These signs of environmental degradation were matched by the 358,000 liter oil spill in 2014 that suffocated marine life and overfished more than the numbers normally lost because it takes only one generation for adult fish to disappear. Overfishing makes matters worse, forcing the fishermen who operate on razor-thin margins to go out further into pirate-infested waters and deplete fish stocks, all while facing threats of robbery, trafficking and violence. The lack of substantial government help for mangrove regeneration or in addressing oil spills stems from an overarching disinterest in promoting environmental health; a disinterest that now places communities like Dublar Char directly in the crosshairs of industrial neglect.

The fishing community is also living in a polluted environment burdened by plastic, such as nets entangled with plastics and fish found to contain microplastics. Locally, the result is damaged equipment and health risks from eating contaminated fish, which mirrors the 8 million metric tons of plastic flowing into oceans globally every year. It is also an economic emergency, and that too of a people who have never had every basic right yet. Lack of functioning waste management systems in Bangladesh and high plastic production sustainably by the global community, however, makes fishermen like so many on Dublar Char one of the most vulnerable groups to bear the toxic brunt of a throwaway culture not their own.

More frequent and intense cyclones - a consequence of climate change - not only disrupt fish-catching but also destroy the temporary structures built by fishermen on Dublar Char. The absence of shelters has fishermen all the more vulnerable to killer storms, a powerful symbol of chronic government failure. Climate change threatens not only their immediate safety, but may disrupt long-term economic stability as warming waters change the migration patterns of fish and reduce harvests. A failure of responsibility of countries to limit carbon emissions means Dublar Char and similar communities are in the grip of a crisis that they have essentially no control over, shining through as a stark example of climate impacts being unfairly shared out.

The fishermen of Dublar Char face a chronic precarity, the debt loan from the expensive operations (fuel, boat maintenance, labor) continue to increase while their wages have no more ceiling. There is not clean water or medical facilities; there is hardly any infrastructure and this only serves to intensify the poverty of many families who must resort to extortionate informal loans. The socio-economic entrapment is further exacerbated by social isolation of the seasonal village which restricts the community in making demands via advocacy or political engagement. If the government was instead to provide targeted support, like subsidies and healthcare; cyclone-resilient infrastructure such as refrigeration units for storing fresh catch, especially in case of a cyclone, or to insurance mechanisms that could replace damaged vessels when disaster strikes. It could help these fishermen break out of an ever-narrowing band of vulnerability by addressing the utter political neglect that treats them as disposable commodities in times of systematic environmental and economic collapse.

A Call for Accountability

Dublar Char represents not only a tragic instance of crisis in the aquatic ecosystems and how it affects communities and their livelihoods, but also reflects global and national failures. Industrialized nations and corporations who are causing plastic pollution, they must take responsibility for the disproportionate harm their destabilization inflicts upon marginalized communities. Going forward, it is crucial for the Bangladeshi government to act at home by restoring mangroves, cracking down on pollution and safeguarding water ecosystems. Dublar Char was facing the potential loss of its fishermen and a way of life that had existed for generations, without immediate action. Now is the time to confront not only economic inequity but also environmental degradation and social neglect before the tides of aquatic ecosystems collapse completely sweep this community away.