Many rivers and streams are also drying up because of human extraction of water, large-scale dumping of industrial waste and unplanned building of hundreds of dams, he said.
Cultural experts say bedey face many social as well as environmental pressures.
“The ornaments they sell are no longer in demand. Orthodox medicine is preferred so there is no demand for their products,” said Habibur Rahman, professor of sociology at Dhaka University.
Rahman added that the gypsies often struggle to blend into mainstream Muslim society.
“Many find it difficult to integrate because they lack education and skills — and if we lose our bedey people we’ve lost a slice of our history and culture,” he said.
His sentiments are shared by Soud Khan, 52, a bedey elder who lives with thousands of settled gypsies in Khuria village south of the capital Dhaka.
“All of our predecessors used to live on boats, roaming every place. The boat was our only house as well as our means of transport. We had had better days on boats, but now we are forced to leave them,” he said.
“Finding jobs on the mainland is tough. Most of us are not skilled at anything but being bedey. Of course we want a better life than on the water, but whether we will find it on the mainland, I’m not sure,” he said.
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