Workshop to enhance fisheries in reservoirs, wetlands in Manipur

Our Correspondent Imphal, Feb. 18 (EMN): In an effort to manage and enhance the fisheries in reservoirs and wetlands, an interactive workshop on ‘Openwater Fisheries Management of Manipur’ was held in Imphal on Monday. Indian Council of Agricutlural Research-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CIFRI), Barrackpore, Kolkata organised the workshop in collaboration with Fisheries department of Manipur. The workshop was to disseminate the knowledge generated by ICAR-CIFRI for development of inland fisheries in the state without compromising ecosystem and environmental sustainability, ICAR-CIFRI officials said. ICAR-CIFRI Director Dr. BK Das said that the department should look into diversification of fish species having local preferences. He assured all possible support in terms of technology backstopping for management of openwater fisheries. ICAR-CIFRI Principal Scientist Dr. AK Das fish demand and supply gap of Manipur can be minimized if inland openwater of the state are optimally utilized. In Manipur, more than 95% of Manipur population consumes fish. However, despite having production potential of about 65,000 tonnes, the state at present produces 32,000 tonnes (2016-17) of fish against the requirement of about 52,000 tonnes. The state imports fish to meet the shortfall of about 20,000 tonnes by siphoning a huge amount of money annually. To arrest the siphoning of fund while importing fish, the state government forms a committee under the initiative of the state Chief Minister N Biren Singh in the recent past to make a roadmap to develop a self sufficient fish production mechanism by 2020. As part of the initiatives, the state government began to organise consultations and workshops by incorporating the scientific findings and technologies taking opinions and suggestions from the concerned stakeholders. Khamsing Ahum presented the status of open water fisheries resources of Manipur while Dr. Sona Yengkokpam gave pen aquaculture demonstrations and experiments done in north-eastern states and Dr. Dipesh Debnath, Scientist, ICAR-CIFRI, RC, Guwahati shared the cage aquaculture.