The workshop was attended by officials of Department of Fisheries, Government of Assam including Mr. G.S. Das, ACS, Director of Fisheries, Government of Assam; officials of Asian Development Bank; Dr. P.C. Bhuyan, Dean and faculties of College of Fisheries, AAU, Raha; faculties of Bodoland University; representatives from WorldFish, Malaysia; researchers from Wetland International, New Delhi; representatives of Assam State Wetland Authority; members of Assam State Biodiversity Board; NGO members. In his inaugural address, Dr. B.K. Das emphasized on the need for holistic development of floodplain wetlands. He stressed upon integrated management of wetlands, nature-based solutions to tackle the emerging issues of climate change and valuation of goods and services.

Dr. A.U. Muzaddadi, Principal Scientist and Head of Open Water Aquaculture Production and Management Division, Dr. S.K. Majhi, Principal Scientist and Head of Guwahati Regional Centre of ICAR-CIFRI, Dr. B.K. Bhattacharjya, Principal Scientist, Mr. Ganesh Chandra, Scientist and Dr. Simanku Borah, Scientist attended the workshop. In the session on “Sustainable management of the beel fishery to enhance the production and conservation of indigenous fishes” of the workshop, Dr. B.K. Das delivered his lecture on “Management of macrophytes in wetlands” and advocated complete eradication of invasive water hyacinth from wetland ecosystems for conservation and management.

Dr. Simanku Borah delivered his lecture on the topic “Culture-based fisheries and climate resilient management options in beels”. Dr. B.K. Bhattacharjya spoke on “Management modules developed by CIFRI for floodplain wetland management” while Mr. Ganesh Chandra delivered a lecture on “Institutional mechanism and governance pattern in floodplain wetland fisheries of Assam”. Director, CIFRI asked DoF, Assam to identify the problems of local communities, strengthen them and follow a co-management approach for beel fisheries development in Assam.