Yet the crop yield inside is not any better. Past flood control embankment projects have had devastating impacts on the inland fisheries. Twenty years ago the fisheries supplied 80 percent of the protein consumed in Bangladesh, but the supply has dwindled as embankments increasingly block migration pathways for riverine fish. The majority of fresh water fish species in Bangladesh depend on access to the floodplain during the annual monsoon barsha flood for spawning and rearing habitat. The largely landless or land-poor rural population would be particularly hard hit by the further declines in the inland fisheries caused by the FAP embankments.
Many experts disagree.
Dr. Chu Fa Tsai, professor of fisheries biology at the University of Maryland, describes the potential impact in apocalyptic terms. What a cyclone is to the coastal areas of Bangladesh, FAP is so to the fisheries of the country. Either way, a shift from open water fish capture to closed water aquaculture would in effect involve a massive transfer of common resources into private hands. Moreover, the loss of normal flooding may lower groundwater levels, drying up important wetlands and lakes, and further reducing habitat for fish and already threatened migratory birds, amphibians and reptiles. Beyond the severe social and environmental impacts of the scheme, critics also point to the plan s technical deficiencies.