Local people will now use new methods that will not make them poison the water for catching fish, which in turn causes huge damage to wildlife in the Meghat Tiger Reserve.
The workshop on sustainable fishing has been going on in Melghat region through the Nature Conservation Society Amravati (NCSA) and the results have been positive.
One such workshop to introduce local fishermen to the provisions of Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), 1996 and sustainable fishery practices was conducted recently at NCSA's Muthawa community centre in Harisal in collaboration with the fisheries department, Amravati.
Around 30 fishermen participated in the workshop and were taught about the standard practices to be followed to new committees and some advanced techniques to old committees already fishing.
Kishor Rithe, member of Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board (MSBB) and a self help groups (SHGs) at Bori, presented participants of the tribal areas on how they sold a fish catch, first at the village and later in the market.
Rithe said that it will help to divert tribals from bush meat hunting. The practice of poisoning the waterholes for getting a fish catch will also be stopped. It will definitely reduce the deaths of wild animals due to poisoning waterholes said Rithe.
In order to meet the protein requirement of local tribal’s, NCSA has promoted to run the domestic fishing programmes in the newly constructed water bodies in Melghat buffer villages so that villagers maintain the water bodies too.
