Abstract:
Manipulation through invasion is a
major problem in most of the port areas in recent
world. Mongla is an important sea port that has
accomplished the activities like import and export
of various goods inside and outside Bangladesh.
The process not only involves the moving of
goods, it also carries the invasive species
purposely or accidentally which invading to the
new location of the Mongla port area through
exploration and colonization with varieties
diversity and scale. The paper identifies the
invasive species and analyses the causes and
ways of invasion in the coastal waters with
possible impacts of invasion in the Mongla Port
area. To achieve the objectives of the research,
different aquatic species were collected by
random sampling from the confluence of the River
Passur Mongla port and the adjacent area around
the Sundarbans from September 2006 to April
2007. The fishermen and local communities
including indigenous people were interviewed to
explore the invasion situation. The research
reveals that ballast water of cargo ships is one of
the means of invasion of the coastal waters of
Mongla Port. Aquaculture is another reason of
invasion due to introduction of many exotic fishes
and shrimp species such as Pangus (Pangasius
sutchi ), African Magur (Clarias gariepinus),
Tilapia (Tilapia mossambica) and Nilotica
(Oreochromis niloticus) etc. that have the active
roles for altering the aquatic ecosystem of
Mongla Port. Finally, the research also finds out
some possible environmental impacts caused by
those invasive species.
