Fishing ban in Pong Dam goes today

Our Correspondent

Nurpur, August 14

The Fisheries Department will lift ban on fishing in the Pong Dam Reservoir tomorrow. However, the ban is imposed for two months every year from June 1 to July 31, but this year the restrictions were extended for one additional fortnight due to the delay in monsoon, which delayed the breeding season.

Sprawling over 24,000 hectares, the man-made water body is 42-km long and 19- km broad. In the last fiscal, it had produced around 400 tonne of fish.

As per information, 15 fisheries societies comprising 2,500 fishermen have been issued fish-catching licenses by the Fisheries Department. The department had imposed the ban in all rivers, streams and man-made water bodies across the state during the breeding season.

The Pong reservoir has been producing rohu, mahasheer, mali, singhara, kulbansh and rogal fish speices. The singhara fish fetch maximum price. The Fisheries Department has a target to put fish seed of Rs 65 lakh till October 31 this year. The department has recently invited open tenders for supplying fish seed.

Sat Pal Mehta, Director, Fisheries Department, said the field staff had kept close vigil on the poachers in the Pong Reservoir during the breeding season and as many as 50 poachers had been fined for illegal fishing. He said the fishermen would be given Rs 3,000 annual financial relief during the fish breeding season and this amount was being contributed by the Union Government, state government and beneficiaries.