Captive breeding breakthrough earns state SKOCH Gold Award

The Himachal Pradesh Fisheries Department has been conferred the SKOCH Gold Award-2025 for its pioneering work in conserving the critically endangered Golden Mahaseer through a successful captive breeding programme. The award was presented on September 20 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, and received by Vivek Chandel, Director-cum-Warden of Fisheries, and Dr Som Nath, Assistant Director (Fisheries).

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu congratulated the department, calling the recognition a testament to the state’s commitment and innovative approach to biodiversity conservation. He said the SKOCH Group honours impactful governance projects and the award validates Himachal’s integrated conservation strategy. The CM also highlighted the cultural and ecological significance of the Golden Mahaseer, a freshwater fish that symbolizes aquatic biodiversity. It is the state fish of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

Once abundant, Golden Mahaseer populations have suffered severe decline due to habitat degradation from hydropower projects, overfishing, and pollution. To counter this, Himachal’s Fisheries Department launched a scientifically backed captive breeding programme. The Machhyal Mahaseer Farm, established in 2016, had struggled for years with fingerling production capped at 5,000 annually.

In 2023, a special revival campaign was launched in collaboration with the ICAR–Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI), Bhimtal — India’s only cold-water fisheries research institute. The reforms proved transformative. In 2024–25, the Machhyal farm achieved a record 87,000 Golden Mahaseer fingerlings, a nearly 17-fold increase.

For the first time, large-scale stocking was undertaken to restore natural populations. About 34,500 fingerlings were released, 20,000 into Pong Reservoir and 14,500 into Gobind Sagar Reservoir. These efforts aim to replenish wild stocks and secure the species’ survival in its natural habitats, including stretches of the Beas and Sutlej rivers and reservoirs like Pong, Gobind Sagar and Kol Dam.

Apart from its ecological role in maintaining aquatic balance, the Golden Mahaseer is also prized among anglers. Himachal’s successful breeding breakthrough marks a turning point in freshwater conservation and offers a replicable model for other states.