Assam throws a lifeline to its only Ramsar site

The Kamrup (Metropolitan) district administration has prohibited community fishing in Deepor Beel, a wetland on the south-western edge of Guwahati and Assam’s only Ramsar site.
The prohibition order under Section 144 of the Cr.P.C. underlines the possibility of community fishing on January 3 and will remain beyond the mid-January Magh or Bhogali Bihu that is preceded by mass fishing in many parts of the State
Deepor Beel was designated a Ramsar site in 2002 for sustaining a range of aquatic life forms besides 219 species of birds.
A Ramsar site is a wetland designated to be of international importance under the Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar.
According to hydrological experts, the area of the wetland was about 6,000 hectares in the late 1980s.
Satellite imagery has revealed that its area has shrunk by at least 35% since 1991.

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