Bangladesh’s Forest Department says intensified patrols, smart monitoring and drone surveillance are improving protection in the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest. In the three-month entry ban period of June, July and August this year, officials reported no recoveries of deer meat, skins or dead deer, indicating a marked reduction in deer poaching compared with the same period last year.

Forest officials seized 14,381 feet of nylon traps, 110 snap traps, 86 feet of hata traps and 69 bhoya traps during the period. They also detained two boats and three trawlers used illegally. In the corresponding period last year, the East Sundarbans Division filed 20 cases, arrested 12 alleged poachers and recovered 156.5 kilograms of deer meat, five heads, eight legs, two skins and two dead deer.

Officials also say the use of poison for fishing, which harms aquatic species and the forest food chain, has declined. Patrols now include foot, boat and smart patrols alongside day-and-night operations and drones. Stakeholders have called for filling vacant ranger posts, adding fast vessels and drones, and bringing boats used by fishers and forest-dependent communities under GPS tracking.