Announcing the 5th Assam Matsya Mahotsav — a three-day fish festival to be held at Shilpgram in Panjabari from 27-29 January — fisheries minister Nurjamal Sarkar said that steps had been taken in recent years to reduce imports and make the state self-sufficient in fish production.
According to a report in the Indian Telegraph, he said fish production had increased in the past five years — from 18,148,000 tonnes in 2006-07 to 19,032,000 tonnes in 2007-08, 20,674,000 tonnes in 2008-09 and 21,882,000 tonnes in 2009-10.
The target for 2010-11 is 23,000,000 tonnes, he added.
The total fish requirement in the state is 23,600,000 tonnes.
The report says that demand for fish in the state has always outstretch production despite the amount of water that can be devoted to fish farming.
However, production has increase because during the Eleventh Plan, 6,080 hectares of water area was created for fish farming and the Fish Seed Rules 2010 was framed under the Fish Seed Act for the first time to regulate fish seed production to ensure availability of quality fish seed to farmers.
Assam to be Self Sufficient in Fish
INDIA - Assam, which has traditionally paid a lot to import fish, could become self-sufficient in fish production in the next three years.
