Dr. SAJINA A. M.
Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute
Barrackpore, Kolkata- 700 120

Inland open waters of Meghalaya
◦ Rivers & canals- 5,600 Km
◦ Reservoirs – 0.08 lakh ha
◦ Tanks & Ponds- 0.02 lakh ha
◦ Wetlands

Issues & Challenges

Need/Scope for Innovation

Proper planning and development of fisheriesneed to assess and monitor inland water resources

Issue- Scattered nature, Difficulty in accessibility,
Declining water area

Interventiontechnology
employ
for
the
assessment
remote
of
the
sensing
fisheries
resources and GIS for management of resources

Standardised
the
methodology for estimating
water
spread
area
of
inland fisheries resources
and their production status
using GIS tools in West
Bengal and Uttar Pradesh
 Mapping of water bodies in Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
 Preparation of electronic atlas
for water bodies of >10 ha
area in 6 States







Kerala
Karnataka,
Maharashtra,
West Bengal,
Punjab,
Haryana,
Bihar
Digital Elevation Model of catchments and
streams were created for four water bodies of
West Bengal and six water bodies of Uttar Pradesh

Issues
◦ More demand and less supply of affordable protein by
all
◦ Capture fisheries production- more or less stagnant

Intervention- Production enhancement
inland open water resources
◦ Stock enhancement/Ranching
◦ Pen culture
◦ Cage Farming
from

CIFRI providing technical assistance for the
implementation of cage farming for table fish
in 12 States under NMPS
Andhra Pradesh
Tamil Nadu
Karnataka
Madhya Pradesh
Orissa
Bihar
Jharkhand
Uttar Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh

Technology for carp seed raising in cages have
been developed; 150-210 no. of fish fingerlings
(80-100 mm) can be produced per cubic meter
of the cage at a cost of Rs 0.4/fingerling with a
cost benefit ratio of 2.5 to 2.7

Issue-Overexploitation,
Juvenile
fishing, Destructive fishing, Habitat
alteration

Intervention- Captive breeding and
culture

Hilsa (T.ilisha)- New Programme for
breeding,
seed
production
culture under NFBSFARA
and

Issue- Changes in
temperature and
rainfall pattern
affecting the biological
cycle of fishes

InterventionHarnessing the
beneficial effects of
climate change

Indian major carps Labeo rohita, Catla catla and Cirrhinus
mrigala of six states viz. West Bengal, Assam, Tripura,
Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh
Schizothorax
richardsonii,
Onchorhynchus mykiss and Tor putitora in Uttarakhand

Three
coldwater
fishes

Two estuarine fishes T. ilisha and Liza parsia in Hooghly
Matlah estuarine system

Study
was
hatcheries
conducted
of
Andhra
in
fish
Pradesh,
Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,
West Bengal, Assam and Tripura.

Hatcheries of N-24 Parganas, W. B.
- Reproductive maturity of IMC has
advanced by nearly one month
(from April to March) and the
duration of spawning has extended
by one month (from July to August)

The breeding of rainbow trout record an
advancement of gonadal maturity as early as
January in the high altitude of Uttarakhand.

The IMC Labeo rohita presently is surviving and
growing in the pond waters of Uttarakhand
hills.
Issue- Due to heavy pollution load, many Indian
rivers are losing or have lost their self-purification
ability and are now septic with toxic and/or oxygen
scavenging pollutants

Intervention-
Development
of
environment mitigation protocols
through
microbiological
biotechnological interventions
and
• 17 phenol/ chlorophenol degrading bacteria
were isolated from Churni, Hooghly and
Damodar rivers
• More than 150 bacteria have been isolated from
different
aquatic
habitats
for
arsenic
transformations; four strains having Arsenic
reduction capability have been isolated and
proven their roles in arsenic reduction and
mobilization
•
•
Six
bacterial
strains,
capable
of
releasing
phosphorous from calcium bound phosphate, were
isolated from wetland sediments
In process- Microbiological formulations for organic
pollution degradation in aquatic environment



Rapid
field
bio-assessment
approach
for
addressing cumulative and / or synergistic impact
of anthropogenic stressors on inland aquatic
ecosystem
Fish based Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI), Health
assessment Index (HAI), Habitat suitability index
(HSI)
Capable of providing early warning signals for
environmental degradation


Issue- transformation of river ecosystems by
fragmenting channels and altering river flows
for hydropower generation and other purposes.
Intervention- To estimate the requirement of
minimum environmental flow in the river for
sustainable fishery

Various methods - Tennant method, Huges &
Munster method and Building block method

North
east-
Nyamjang
Chhu
river
of
Arunachal Pradesh
◦ Minimum water release of 3.5 cumecs from the
barrage will maintain conducive depth and flow
velocity of 0.55 m and 0.36 m/s respectively



An
efficient
and
useful
method
to
systematically describe ecosystems and to
explore their properties
Provide valuable information on the health of
reservoir habitats, as well as the capacity to
support biological production and sustainable
development
Software- Ecopath, Ecosim

Wyra reservoir, Andhra Pradesh
◦ First attempt in India on modelling a tropical productive reservoir
◦ To assess the impact of environmental management measures
(implementation of fishing ban) taken to conserve the fish stocks
in the reservoir
◦ Mass-balanced models of reservoir ecosystem were constructed
for two periods, for 1995–1996 (pre-ban) and 2002–2003 (post –
ban) using Ecopath
◦ The ecosystem indices indicate that the reservoir during post-ban
phase was in a more resilient state (resistant to perturbations)
compared to the pre-ban phase
◦ The ban was found to be useful in conserving the most prized
prawn, Macrobrachium malcolmsonii in the reservoir

Kelavarapalli reservoir, Tamil Nadu
◦ First attempt in India to assess the impact of invasive
fishes on the reservoir ecosystem through ecosystembased approach
◦ Interesting observation in this study is that the most
dominant invasive fish in this reservoir (Nile Tilapia)
does not negatively impact any of the fish groups
◦ African Catfish - exerts a direct negative impact on its
preys–indigenous catfishes, Pearl spot and Tilapia
Current data from the reservoir confirms the accuracy of the
prediction from the model and Coimbatore District Collector
issued orders banning culture and marketing of African catfish
 Karapuzha
reservoir, Kerala
◦ Prey-predator interactions
revealed that the major carps do
not negatively impact the local
fish species in the reservoir
Based on the results of this study, the Kerala
Government decided to proceed with stocking of
fishes in reservoirs of Kerala

Issues
◦ Inland
open
multifunctional
water
resources
are
complex
and
◦ The decisions on sub-optimal or irrational use of inland
waters are often taken due to lack of availability of
information on goods and services provided by them and
their actual value

Intervention-Concept of estimation of the actual monetary
value of the goods and services comprising the ecological,
economic and social aspects.

Purpose-To ensure conservation