ICAR-CIFRI initiated Exploration and Habitat Mapping of Hilsa Migration in rivers of Meghalaya, India
07th April, 2025
ICAR-Hilsa Tenualosa ilisha, the State fish of West Bengal and National fish of Bangladesh has been a regional importance due to its commercial, cultural and nutritional importance supporting livelihood of millions in the India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The species perform anadromous migration i.e from the marine ecosystem to freshwater ecosystem for breeding and spawning. In India, the species is well been recorded in Hooghly, Narmada, Brahmaputra, Godavari, Cauvery, Mahanadi, Krishna and in Chilika lagoon. However, due to series of anthropocenes, the hilsa availability have been limited. India shares maximum its river connectivity with the Bangladesh particularly in the North Eastern States.
The Meghalaya state is one of the four North East States that share both land and river boundaries with Bangladesh. In order to understand the Hilsa availability in this state, ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI), Barrackpore with funding supports from Meghalaya Power Generation Corporation Limited (MPGCL) initiated field explorations and delineate the Hilsa migration in the transboundary rivers for development of future hilsa management plans. The study will be carried out for a period of one year covering all the seasons and the habitat suitability for the species. The investigation will support us in developing the water requirement for the hilsa migration and developing the suitable habitat for conservation of hilsa breeding and spawning grounds. This investigation is led by Drs. B.K.Das, A.K.Sahoo, D.K.Meena and SCS Das, focusing on the migration behavious, habitat mapping, habitat suitability and developing log term hilsa fisheries management plans.
