Assam has set a target to increase fish production to five lakh metric tonnes by creating a gene bank worth Rs 10 crore, said fisheries minister Parimal Shuklabaidya on National Fish Farmers’ Day on Saturday. Recognising unmatched hardships and perseverance of the farming community, Suklabaidya thanked the farmers for adopting latest technologies like Biofloc and Cage Culture to increase production. “Assam is making steady progress in the fish farming sector since 2016 with production attaining 3.93 lakh metric tonnes. The fish production would increase up to five lakh metric tonnes with the creation of the gene bank, for which the government has spent Rs 10 crore,” the minister said at Jungal Balahu Fish Farm at Raha in Nagaon district on Saturday.
The state government is implementing the five-year Gene Bank for Indigenous Fish (GBIF) project. Assam is the first northeastern state to attain self-sufficiency in fish seed production with 951.9 crore fish seed fry in 2019-20, and it is supplying these to the neighboring states. The project, which is being implemented through the College of Fisheries, Raha, under Assam Agricultural University, aims at conserving germplasm and restoring Assam’s endangered fish species. “Unlike in the past, fishing is no longer a neglected sector with Prime Minister Narendra Modi according topmost priority to this sector,” he said, adding that the led Government in Assam has been making concerted efforts to make use of the vast water resources of the state to increase fish production.
Suklabaidya said many youths who have come back to the state due to the Covid induced lockdown have taken up fish farming by constructing individual and community ponds with Government subsidy. “Of the 12,000 individual and community ponds, 10,000 ponds have been constructed,” he added. Nagaon Deputy Commissioner Kavitha Padmanabhan, said the fisheries sector in the district is making good strides and the district has attained self sufficiency on the fish production front.