CIFRI Awards
Osteobrama belangeri (locally called pengba) is a near threatened medium carp endemic to Manipur of North east India, Myanmar and Yunan provinces of China. It is designated as the ‘state fish’ of Manipur because of its importance and high consumer preference in the state. In the past it formed a big fishery in the Loktak lake contributing to about 40% of the natural fishery in the state. However, its population has significantly declined in Manipur over the last few decades and was declared ‘extinct in wild’ as per IUCN Red list.
With the success of induced breeding of the fish in the 90s and subsequent ranching carried out by various organizations in the lake, pengba began to appear occasionally in the fish catch of the lake. With the objective of rejuvenating the depleted stock of pengba, ICAR-CIFRI initiated a mega ranching programme “Augmenting natural stock of endemic carp, Osteobrama belangeri (pengba)” in Loktak lake with a plan to ranch 1 lakh advanced fingerlings (>10 cm size) of pengba in a phased manner for in situ conservation. Initiating the ranching programme, a total of 20,000 pengba fingerling were ranched in Loktak Lake near Sendra Island on 15th March 2022 in collaboration with Directorate of Fisheries, Govt. of Manipur. On the second day a total of 10,000 pengba fingerlings were ranched near Karang island in Loktak lake.
The programme was carried out under the able guidance of Dr. B. K. Das, Director, ICAR-CIFRI, Barrackpore. Dr. H. Balkrishna, MCS, Director of Fisheries, Manipur was the Chief Guest of the programme. The programme was led by Dr. B. K. Bhattacharjya, Head, ICAR-CIFRI Regional Centre, Guwahati and coordinated by Dr. Sona Yengkokpam, Sr. Scientist; Dr. S. C. S. Das, Scientist; Dr. N. S. Singh, Scientist; Ms. T. Nirupada Chanu, Scientist, ICAR-CIFRI and Mr. Dineshwar, DFO Bishnupur district; Mr. Hemchandra Singh, FO and Mr. Rajiv, FI, DoF, Manipur. Around 130 fishers and other stakeholders attended the programme. During the interaction programme, Shri Balkrishna Singh, Director, DoF welcomes all the participants and advised the fishers not to capture the stocked pengba fingerlings so that the fishes are allowed to grow and sustain in the lake, and he also appealed the fishers and other stakeholders to release.
any pengba if caught accidentally by them during fishing. Dr. Sona Yengkokpam addressed the fishers about the importance of pengba fish in the ecosystem of Loktak Lake. The impact of pengba ranching in the lake and the other different conservation measures of the endemic State Fish and other indigenous fishes were briefly explained to the fishers and stakeholders of Loktak Lake, Manipur by Ms. T. N. Chanu. Dr. S.C.S. Das talked about the biology of pengba and responsible fishing in the lake. Congenial environment required for the survival and better growth of pengba was briefly discussed by Dr. N. S. Singh. Mr. Sanayaima, a representative of fisher participant has also expressed his gratitude to ICAR-CIFRI for conducting such programme and agreed to follow the existing guidelines for the conservation of pengba in the Lake.
