A total of 13 fish sanctuaries have been established at the Hakaluki Haor to protect threatened fish and fish resources in the country. The Department of Environment has made the sanctuaries in the major inlets of Hakaluki Haor recently under the Coastal and Wetland Biodiversity Management project. Hakaluki Haor, declared as an ecologically critical area and the important source of fish-stock, is losing its varieties of fish due to harmful human activities like usage of illegal fishing nets, dewatering of beels during the dry season to catch fish and catching gravid fish. According to an IUCN survey on Bangladesh 32 out of 107 fish species found in this haor are threatened. The main objective of the sanctuaries is to provide shelter for fish during the dry season, said the project director of Coastal and Wetland Biodiversity Management, Jafar Siddiqi. The sanctuaries were established at the major inlets of the haor namely Juri River, Fanai River, Ratkhal River, Borodol River, Kushiara River, Konthinala River, Satpurer Khal and Fuala Beel. The fish sanctuaries have been established at the deepest part of rivers, beels and canals. The project director said a number of village conservation groups were formed comprising locals for managing the sanctuaries. The members of the village conservation group have also been trained on fish sanctuary management. Jafar Siddiqi said last year they seized more than 10 tonnes of illegal fishing nets and 37 water pumps (which were being used for dewatering beels) from the haor with the assistance of law enforcement agencies and local communities. He said they expected fish production of the Hakaluki Haor to increase significantly in comparison to last year though a study is underway to asses the result. The haor is also very important for conserving fowl. About 1, 26,851 birds of 41 verities have been counted at the Hakauki Haor including threatened and near-threatened species according to a survey done last winter under the project.