India Boosts Reservoir Fisheries

The initiative for cooperative fishing introduced by the Government expects to boost farm incomes, according to reports in The Hindu.

Reports say that the Government is to get seed stock from Andhra Pradesh, and initially 20 reservoirs will be introduced with the brood stock. Nearly 20 large reservoirs and about 32 small tanks and ponds have been earmarked for the cooperative fishing scheme and the process of stocking the reservoirs with fish has already begun.

Director of State Fisheries H.N. Veerappa Gowda said that inland fisheries was emerging as one of the fields that could help India achieve food security, especially when the marine fisheries output was coming down in the State.

Mr. Gowda told The Hindu that many of the reservoirs in Uttara Kannada, Davangere, Shimoga, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Chitradurga, Tumkur and Hassan districts had been readied for receiving the brood stock. The Malaprabha reservoir has been stocked extensively. The inland fishermen can reap at least two major crops and one minor crop if they manage the reservoir stock scientifically.

The villages around the reservoirs have been asked to form cooperative societies of small fishermen which will be given the rights of harvesting.

The National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) has also announced its participation in inland fisheries development.