The Kamrup (Metropolitan) district administration has prohibited community fishing in Deepor Beel. Activities such as community fishing are absolutely illegal under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
- The Deepor Beel is a wetland on the south-western edge of Guwahati and Assam’s only Ramsar site.
- Deepor Beel was designated a Ramsar site in 2002 for sustaining a range of aquatic life forms besides 219 species of birds.
Factors behind shrinking of Deepor Beel
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. Some of the factors behind shrinking of the Deepor Beel are:
- It is losing connectivity with small rivers such as Kalmoni, Khonajan and Basistha that used to flow via the Mora Bharalu channel through Guwahati.
- Expansion of the city
- Encroachment upon the natural channels through Guwahati and from the hills around
- Municipal waste dump at Boragaon almost on the edge of the wetland.
What is a Ramsar Site: 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.
