Bangladesh’s high demand for tiny shrimp is now damaging the marine environment. And it’s not good news for local fisherman whose livelihood depends on the industry.

The pristine sea of Bangladesh's coastal Cox's Bazaar has for generations has sustained thousands of fishermen catching shrimp there.

But environmentalists are now warning that extensive shrimp fishing is destroying other organisms in the sea.

[Giasuddin Khan, Scientist, World Fish Center]:English
"The biological diversity, what I mean, that has been lost, is that, against one species of Bagdha (lobster) fry which they use for the cultivation in shrimp fry, so they catch more than one hundred of the other organisms, which are damaging to the environment."

For fishermen like Abdul Gafur, catching shrimp is his life.

[Abdul Gafur, Shrimp Fisherman]:
"By catching these shrimp, I earn around $7 everyday and with that money I run my home. I have no land, nothing."

Gafur says the stock of fish in the sea has recently declined, a potentially ruinous development for family fishermen. But it’s an opportunity for the local industry to meet international demand for Bangladeshi shrimp.