Tripura govt comes up with policy to improve fish production

AGARTALA; Tripura government has drawn up a detailed policy to improve the state's overall fish production by utilizing the government-owned water bodies.

Tripura Fishery Minister Mevar Kumar Jamatia said the decision has been taken soon after the state bagged an award of best-performing state in the fisheries sector among the eleven hilly states.

"The state was awarded a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh for its commendable job in the fishery sector," the minister said.

The award was presented by the National Fisheries Development Board, Hyderabad on the occasion of World Fisheries Day observed on November 21.

Sharing details of the new policy the minister said, lease Policy for government-owned water bodies of Tripura-2021 has been formulated for sustainable use of all the water bodies available in the government's land for scientific pisciculture.

"At present, there are 1,502 water bodies spread in a total area of 645.54 hectares. The whole area belongs to the government of Tripura. The water bodies are under the control of different departments like education, rural development, forest and tourism and thus mostly remain underutilized as far as fish production is concerned," he said.

So through this policy, the fisheries department tried to bring some uniformity in the management of water bodies as well as in its proper use for fish production, the minister added.

According to the minister, an individual in Tripura consumes 25 kgs of fish per year which is the second-highest in the country after Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

On the shortfall of production and consumption patterns, Jamatia said, in 2019 and 2020, a 23 per cent shortfall of fish has been recorded. The shortfall was filled up by importing fish from neighbouring Bangladesh and other states of the country, he added.

"To become self-reliant in this front too, we have introduced modern fish culture practices like Bio-floc and Pisciculture. Hopefully, in the next two years, we shall be able to produce fish as per our requirement," he said.

Explaining further, the minister said leasing of these water resources will accrue better utilization of water resources, enhancement in fish production, bridging the gap of demand against the production, revenue generation, employment generation, more contribution to GSDP and food and nutritional security of the people.