CIFRI Awards
An on-field training programme on ‘Pen aquaculture technology in floodplain wetlands of Manipur’ was conducted by ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata in collaboration with Directorate of Fisheries, Department of Fisheries, Govt. of Manipur at Sendra, Loktak, Bishnupur district on Feb. 19, 2019. The purpose of the training programme was to train fishers on various aspect of pen aquaculture technology that has immense potential for improving income and livelihoods of thousands of wetland fishers residing around Loktak. A total of 50 fishers participated in the training programme. It is worth mentioning here that Manipur has 30,171 ha of natural lakes and floodplain wetlands that are largely unexploited and have high potential for increasing fish production through enclosure culture technologies. ICAR-CIFRI as knowledge partner and Department of Fisheries, Govt. of Manipur as implementing partner are making collaborative efforts for sustainable utilization of inland fisheries resources in the State of Manipur.
A team of scientists from ICAR-CIFRI, Barrackpore and Guwahati comprising of Dr. B.K. Das, Director; Dr. A.K. Das, Principal Scientist & I/c Training-Extension Cell, Dr. Sona Yengkokpam and Dr. Dipesh Debnath, Scientists, in presence of Shri Khamsing Ahum, Additional Director and Shri Shyamananda Singh, District Fishery Officer-Bishnupur, Department of Fisheries, Govt. of Manipur discussed in detail about pen aquaculture technology with the fishers. The programme was attended by Shri Kumar Singh, President & Shri Sanayaima, Secretary of Net Fishing Co-operative Society, Takmu and Shri Surachandra Singh, a National Fish Farmer Awardee from Manipur.
Dr. B.K. Das while addressing the participants said that his Institute is ready to provide technical knowhow on enclosure fish culture technologies for the benefit of wetland fishers of Manipur. He mentioned that under the National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS), ICAR-CIFRI has collaborated with Dept. of Fisheries, Manipur to implement pen aquaculture at Takmu pat of Loktak lake with the main objective of enhancing income through culturing fish in such enclosures installed in the lake. He urged the fishers to join hands with ICAR-CIFRI in successfully implementing the project, so that benefits accrued are shared by the fishers themselves. However, he emphasized that after one year of the project, fishers have to continue with pen aquaculture using their own savings.
Dr. A.K. Das requested all the fisher participants to take full advantage of pen aquaculture technology which can be adopted in parts of Loktak lake for producing higher quantities of fish per unit water area. Shri Khamsing Ahum and Shyamananda Singh have encouraged the participants to actively participate in the discussion so as to gather scientific knowledge about fish culture in pens from the scientists of ICAR-CIFRI.
Dr. Sona Yengkokpam discussed about the technical aspects of enclosure fish culture including pen installation, macrophyte clearance, which species to stock and how many to stock per unit area. She emphasized that pens are a low-cost technology and if practiced following scientific guidelines can improve income of the fishers. Dr. Dipesh Debnath, Shri N. Dorendro Singh and Shri T. Victor Anal discussed about post-stocking care of fish in pen enclosures. Shri Surachandra Singh shared his personal experience about fish farming.
In the valedictory session, Dr. Sona Yengkokpam, after distributing certificates thanked the Director ICAR-CIFRI Dr. B.K. Das; Dr. A.K. Das; Dr. D. Debnath; Sponsoring agency NMHS- Almora; Principal Investigator of the project Dr. B.K. Bhattacharjya, Director of Fisheries Mrs. Bidyarani Ayekpam, Additional Director Shri Khamsing Ahum, District Fishery Officer (and Nodal Officer – NMHS project in Manipur), other fisheries officials, media and the valuable fisher participants for interacting, sharing and making this training a meaningful one.
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