Bay of Bengal is a part of northern Indian Ocean in south and southeast asia which is bounded by India and Bangladesh on the north and northwest. also, Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are connected to its east border. It is named after the famous Bengal area (now includes in India and Bangladesh) which is the largest water area in the world as Bay as well as one of the 64 largest marine ecosystems in the world. Through this report I am going to present to you some of the interesting facts of the Bay of Bengal.

The Bay of Bengal covers the area of 839000 square miles. Its average depth is 8500 ft with maximum width 1000 miles. It lies above the great Indo- Australian plate (it is also known as tectonic plate). This plate is believed to be active for volcanoes in the area of east of the bay (mainly Myanmar). The main countries that end in the Bay of Bengal and are the main part of its basin are India, Srilanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia. Ganges, Brahmaputra, and the Irrawaddy are the main three longest rivers and 39 estuaries flows into the bay. This bay also has many beautiful islands and some examples are Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands and Mergui Archipelago territories of India and Myanmar. More than 31 beaches are actively running. Cox’s bazar beach is the longest stretch of the beach in the world.

Bay of Bengal is rich in biological diversity which protects a dense concentration of wildlife including coral reefs, estuaries, shrimps, mammals, sea weeds, fish spawning and nursery areas, and mangroves. Kerilia jerdonii is a venomous sea snake found in this region. Lepidochelys olivacea, also known as pacific ridley sea turtle which is endangered is surviving in the marine Wildlife Sanctuary on the beach of Indian side. According to Red list of IUCN It protects total 57 marine animals- 15 bony fish, 34 cartilaginous fish, 5 reptiles and 3 mammals under different category of threaten animals. Out of seven turtles found in the marine world, six are found in this bay. Bottle nose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), Pantropical spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata), the spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris), Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) and Indo-pacific humped back dolphin (Sousa chinensis) are the species of dolphins which are either threaten or vulnerable or endangered.

Not only the ecological reservoir, The Bay of Bengal is a well economical, religious and strategically important for its costal countries. But the negative interreference by human is the main threat to maintain balanced ecosystem in this ecological resource. Industrial discharge leaks into the river and ocean directly and along with smoke and vehicle exhaust, it forms a layer of air pollution " Asian brown cloud". This disturbs the marine environment as well as study and measurement of marine parameters. Therefore, pollution and water quality degradation threat the endangered species. Next is, fishing and unsustainable harvesting. More than six million tons of fish catch is done in Bay of Bengal which is more than seven percentage of the world. Costal development and mining are another cause to loss and degradation of the habitat.

The figure below shows the historical trophic line which shows average primary productivity throughout the year. Average productivity is approximately 729 milligrams of Carbon per meters squared per day and the average trophic level has steadily been going down over the pat sixty years.

Natural resources have no such physical boundaries, even its small loss in a corner will have a negative impact in entire human world in a way or other. That’s why it's our duty to conserve our resources not only for us but also for next generations. Appropriate management process should be taken to save the diversity of Bengal’s Bay. Sustainable harvesting, control of pollution, control in exploitation of natural resources around costal area should be considered. This implies for all marine ecosystem.

Nepal is a landlock country. The nearest sea is about 400miles to southeast on the Indian oceans Bay of Bengal. As the monsoon in Nepal flows from the Bay of Bengal, it is one of the important ecological factors of agriculture.  Though Nepalese are not directly acquainted with marine life, but indirectly the marine ecosystem has been beneficial.

References:

Hossain, Mostafa & Hoq, Enamul. (2018). Threatened Fishes and other aquatic animals of Bay of Bengal. 5. 37-39.

http://theseasproject.weebly.com/bay-of-bengal.html

http://www.softschools.com/facts/seas/bay_of_bengal_facts/3464/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Bengal