Assam first state in NE to attain self-sufficiency in fish seed output: Minister

GUWAHATI

Assam has become the first state in the Northeast to attain self-sufficiency in fish seed production, said state fisheries minister Parimal Suklabaidya here on Sunday.

“Assam took a quantum jump in fish production from 2.94 lakh metric tonnes in 2015-16 to 3.73 lakh metric tonnes in 2019-20 with an increase of 26.87 per cent in four years,” Suklabaidya said.

Fish seed production has increased from 5,678 million in 2015-16 to 9,519 million (fish seed fry) in 2019-20, which is a growth of 67.65 per cent.

“Assam has demonstrated the availability of local fish in sufficient quantity through the sale of local fish by FISHFED, maintaining COVID protocols during lockdown giving huge profit to cooperatives,” he said.

Assam has successfully cultured indigenous varieties like Pabda, Labeo bata, Cirrhinus reba in Recirculatory Aquaculture System (RAS).

Officials from states like Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh have also visited the sites for gaining technical guidance.

“The state has successfully adopted diversified fish culture with the introduction of fish species like Pabda, freshwater eel, Anabus, Magur, Singhi, Reba, Bata, Mola, freshwater prawn, Chital, etc. among indigenous varieties,” the minister said.

Climate-resilient technology for fish farming has been introduced in the state, where climate-resilient species like carp-mola and freshwater prawn culture have been successfully demonstrated with the technical guidance of the World Fish Centre.

(Edited by Andre Kongri)