Fishing ban lifted, fishermen cheer up

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, August 17

The Department of Fisheries lifted the ban on fishing in water reservoirs and water bodies across the state on Friday, which brought cheers to the faces of fishermen who derive their livelihood from it. The ban had been imposed due to the breeding season from June 15 to August 15.

According to Vivek Chandel, Deputy Director Fisheries Department, on the first day after lifting the ban, 31.8677 metric tonnes of fish were caught from five reservoirs — Gobindsagar, Pong, Chamera, Kol and Ranjit Sagar. “The Pong reservoir in the lower Kangra hills recorded the highest fish catch at 16.4014 metric tonnes, followed by 15.2183 metric tons in the Gobind Sagar reservoir in Bilaspur on the first day after lifting the fish ban,” he said.

Chandel said the department had maintained a close vigil on illegal fishing during the breeding season and caught 421 offenders and recovered Rs 3.17 lakh as penalty from them. The state government has launched a number of welfare schemes for fishermen like free accidental insurance, providing quality fishing nets and compensation for the two-month fishing ban during the fish breeding season. However, fishermen engaged in fishing in the Pong reservoir rued the delay in providing these benefits.

Around 2,300 fishermen, who are registered with the 15 fisheries societies operating at this reservoir have been earning their livelihood for the past many years. The Fisheries Societies Association (Pong Reservoir) has expressed its resentment over the rollback of Centre-sponsored Neel Kranti Awas Yojana which provided housing facilities to fishermen.

Better fish seed led to better production

• The fish production from Kol Dam was 0.066 MT and Chemera and Ranjit Sagar dams contributed about 0.182 MT production of fish.
• Vivek Chandel, Director of Fisheries Department, Bilaspur said a significant rise in fish production has been observed this year. Gobind Sagar saw double the fish production as compared to last year due to better quality of fish seed as per the recommendations of ICAR-CIFRI Kolkata, he said.
• A fisherman, Subhash of Dhari Bari Fishermen Society, caught the biggest fish weighing 33.5 kg and 110 cm in length in Gobind Sagar; Kishori Lal of Jabloo Society caught fish weighing 31.5 kg in Gobind Sagar and Surjan Singh fisherman of Nagrota Surian caught fish weighing 25.3 kg in the Pong Dam reservoir.