In a breakthrough in saltwater crocodile conservation in the country, Bangladesh has started using a satellite tagging system to monitor the species’ movements, habits, and life span in the Sundarbans mangroves. These mangrove forests are the animal’s only wild habitat in Bangladesh.
On March 13, Bangladesh Forest Department, for the first time in Asia, attached satellite tags on two saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) and released them in the mangrove waters of the Sundarbans. A few days later, the same process was repeated on two more individuals.
Two Australian crocodilian experts — Ruchira Somaweera, research scientist at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and an adjunct lecturer at Murdoch University, and Paul Beri, principal ranger of Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services — assisted in tagging the crocodiles and trained the forest officials in tagging and monitoring.
Bangladesh’s forest department and IUCN Bangladesh are jointly implementing the project with support from the Integrated Management of the Sundarbans Mangroves and the Marine Protected Area (MPA) Swatch of No Ground in Bangladesh (SoNG), initiated by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), on behalf of Germany’s economy and development ministry.
Mihir Kumar Doe, Conservator of Forests (Khulna Circle), said there is a sizeable population of wild saltwater crocodiles in the Sundarbans currently as the forest department has released around 200 saltwater crocodiles to the mangroves since 2016 from its Karamjol Crocodile Breeding Centre in eastern Sundarbans.
“But we do not know the survival rate of the released crocodiles and whether the habitat is suitable for them,” Doe added.
He said that using the satellite tags, they are collecting data about the crocodiles’ habitat, range and lifecycle, adding that these data will continue to be helpful in crocodile conservation management in the future.
From the data of the four tagged saltwater crocodiles — one from the wild and three from captivity released into the wild — the researchers and the forest department officials aim to understand the species’ habits, identify their nesting hotspots, their ecology, mortality rate and habitat range, and collect data on human-crocodile conflicts.
ABM Sarwar Alam, program manager of IUCN Bangladesh, told Mongabay that one more wild crocodile will be tagged with a satellite transmitter soon.
Somaweera said that this project makes Bangladesh the first Asian country to deploy satellite tags on crocodiles and only the second in the world after Australia.
Alam said the US-made satellite transmitters they’re using were specially manufactured considering the salty conditions and that they are providing data accurately every hour.
“The four crocodiles tagged with transmitters are absolutely doing well. Three are roaming in different rivers and canals of the Sundarbans but one crocodile went out of the mangrove forest, in Barishal. However, satellite data shows that it is now returning to the Sundarbans after travelling 150 kilometres [93 miles] in first 10 days,” he said.
Alam said the Bangladesh government has had no proper crocodile conservation plan right now and that the satellite data will play an important role in the reptile’s conservation. The home range of the saltwater crocodiles could be identified within one year after examining the data received by the satellite transmitters.
“Once we identify the home range and population of the crocodiles, the forest department will be able to prepare a proper conservation plan for the saltwater crocodiles,” he added.
Threats to saltwater crocodiles in the Sundarbans
The population of wild saltwater crocodiles is decreasing due to growing anthropogenic pressure from tourism and the water transport system that passes through the core areas of the Sundarbans.
Commercial exploitation the crocodiles for their skins until the 1970s depleted the species’ population in Bangladesh. Under the Wildlife (Protection and Security) Act 2012, the saltwater crocodile is now a protected species in the country, but the remaining population faces a range of anthropogenic threats in the Sundarbans. Hunting remains a major threat to the crocodile since poachers are still active in the Sundarbans, according to a 2018 study.
Around 3.5 million local people enter the Sundarbans annually to collect fish, crabs, honey and non-timber forest products. The disturbance by the large number of resource collectors and cargo vessels navigating through different channels within the forest also disturb the crocodiles from basking in the sun.
According to IUCN red list 2015, which counted a small population of 100-150 mature wild individuals found in only a few estuaries and rivers of the Sundarbans mangroves, the saltwater crocodile is critically endangered in Bangladesh. It inhabits brackish water of coastal areas and rivers along the coast, coastal mangrove swamp forests and visits freshwater rivers and grass swamps too.
Rafiqul Islam is an environment and development journalist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He has been reporting on the environment, climate change, conservation, development and human rights.
