Dhaka, May 14 -- Parshe Piracy: Cost of the Catch

Ecological devastation: For every single parshe fry caught, over 400 other aquatic organisms are wiped out, ravaging the Sundarbans' biodiversity

'Jungle syndicate': Armed with banned nets, organised criminal groups bypass forest patrols to supply fry to thousands of coastal enclosures

Enforcement failure: Despite a total fishing ban, corruption and "managed" checkpoints allow trawlers to transport illegal hauls with ease.

At the break of day in the labyrinth of rivers and creeks that thread the Sundarbans, long, dense mosquito-mesh nets are lowered into the brackish water.

What rises from these nets is not only the fragile fry of the parshe -- a prized species for shrimp farming -- b...