Swatch of No Ground (SoNG) Marine Protected AreaÃÂ is a protected area of Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal listed as an Important Marine Mammal Area (IMMA).ÃÂ The reserve covers an area of .
It was established on 26 October 2014, making it the first marine protected area (MPA) in the country. The area hosts important habitats for several endangered creatures such as various species of dolphins and whales.
The Swatch of No Ground (SoNG) is a 14 km wide trench in the Bay of Bengal.àItàis located 30 km fromàDublar Char Islands, located inàthe Sundarbans.àThis deepest trench has a record size of about 1340 meters (400âÂÂ450 m deeper than the surrounding mean seafloor depth of 1000 m).àItàhas an average depth of about 1,200 meters underwater.àThis underwater trench is a part of theàBengal Fan, the largest underwater fan in the world. The fan in the Bay of Bengal, south of the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta, is also known as Ganga Fan.
The area has notable biodiversity of oceanic fauna such as cetaceans, sea turtles, fish, and sea birds. Among these, local populations of cetaceans have been the primal focus of past studies; core species include Bryde's whales, spinner dolphins, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, pantropical spotted dolphins, Irrawaddy dolphins, Indo-Pacific finless porpoises, and species with less-frequency include minke whales, rough-toothed dolphins and false killer whales. Some of these species are genetically unique and endangered.
There are a number of other notable species in the area, such as whale sharks, hammerhead sharks, tunas, groupers, hawksbill turtles, olive ridley turtles, masked boobies, great black-backed gulls, crested terns, swimming crabs, and so on.