CIFRI Awards
An interactive workshop on ‘Openwater fisheries management in Nagaland’ was organized by ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore in collaboration with Department of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources, Govt. of Nagaland, Kohima and ICAR-NRC on Mithun, at Medziphema on 19.07.2019. A total of 60 participants including fishery officials, fishers, fish farmers, representatives from Angler’s Association of Nagaland and Scientists/ technical officers from ICAR-CIFRI and ICAR-NRCM participated in the day-long workshop. Welcoming the dignitaries and participants, Dr. B. K. Bhattacharjya, Head, ICAR-CIFRI Regional Centre, Guwahati explained the background and purpose of the workshop. He recollected the long association between the Guwahati RC of ICAR-CIFRI and department for providing research support for openwater fisheries management in the state. The main purpose of the workshop was to educate the planners, fishery officials and fishers about the management guidelines/ technologies developed by the Institute for the NE region. Sri R. Ao, Addl. Director, Dept. of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources, Govt. of Nagaland stated that the theme of the workshop is in conformity with the revised nomenclature of the state fisheries department as the Department of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources. Sri Ao felt that Nagaland has not made adequate progress in openwater fisheries development despite having rich aquatic resources including Doyang reservoir. Dr. Abhijit Mitra, Director, ICAR-NRCM stated that fisheries development is likely to pick up in the near future following the setting up of a full-fledged Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying by GoI. He observed that many Mithun growing areas are having water bodies where the scope of developing fish culture cum Mithun rearing may be explored. Dr. Mitra felt that there is considerable scope for developing eco-tourism and sport fishing in many openwater bodies of the state including Doyang reservoir. Delivering his inaugural address Shri Senti Ao, IAS, Commissioner & Secretary, Dept. of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources, Govt. of Nagaland thanked the Director, ICAR-CIFRI and his team of Scientists for comig to the state to enlighten his department officials and fishers/ farmers on openwater fisheries management. He urged the officials and the fishers to extract the maximum technical know-how from the resource persons. He informed the house that the Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying has assured all help to the department. Thus, a boost to fisheries development in Nagaland can be expected with support from GoI. The commissioner & Secretary informed that the total requirement of fish in Nagaland is 22,000 tonnes against the present production if against the present production of 9035 tonnes thereby resulting in a gap of 60% between demand and supply. Thus, there is a need to increase fish production from all available fisheries resources of the state. This will also generate additional income and employment for the state. He wished that the workshop a success.
In his presidential address Dr. B.K. Das, Director, ICAR-CIFRI informed the house that the Institute has conducted 3 interactive workshops on openwater fisheries management in the NE states of Tripura, Assam and Manipur. The present workshop is fourth in the series. He stated that openwater fisheries being different from pond aquaculture need different technologies and management guideline for increasing fish production from them. ICAR-CIFRI developed net pens and floating net cages for in-situ rearing of seed for stocking in the open water fisheries. ICAR-CIFRI intervention in floodplain wetlands led to two fold increases in fish productivity of Assam and three fold in Bihar. Pen and cage culture can also be used to rear table size fishes with high production. The Institute formulated different management guidelines for different openwater fisheries of the country like floodplain wetlands and reservoirs. However, the fisheries officers of the state should effectively coordinate with fisheries cooperative societies for better result. He emphasized on need to use all unused water bodies like lakes/ wetlands and water harvesting structures of the state for fish production. He informed the house that the Institute has identified climate resilient fish species like minnows, cat fishes, snake heads, etc. The session ended with the vote of thanks by Dr. P. Das, Scientist, ICAR-CIFRI RC, Guwahati.
The technical session followed after inaugural session, in which three presentations and interactive session was held. In the technical session, how ICAR-CIFRI technology would help the inland sector development was discussed in depth followed by the brief overview of Nagaland fisheries and schemes. The Department of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources, Govt. of Nagaland flags certain issues for development of inland fisheries in the state. In response to that, ICAR-CIFRI is committed to provide the technical support to various aspects including HRD and developing a GIS database for the state. A detail report was sought from the department for which action oriented programme will developed within a span of three years. In the interactive session, the officers from state fisheries department and progressive farmers raised some developmental and technical problems which were answered by the team of Scientist from ICAR-CIFRI. In the concluding session, both the department and ICAR-CIFRI agreed upon to work together for development of fisheries in the state.
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