Experts call for separate ministry for fisheries

Chandigarh, July 7 (UNI) Fisheries experts of Northern states have recommended to evolve a comprehensive aqua-culture policy besides setting up a separate ministry at Centre and state levels for harnessing the vast aquatic resources.

These measures would also help in addressing several inter-sectoral and international issues for the sustainable aqua-culture development, they said in their recommendations on the conclusion of the two-day workshop held here today.

Scientists from Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Mumbai, various universities of the region and Director of Fisheries from Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan participated in the workshop.

The scientists also recommended that aqua-culture should be treated at par with agriculture keeping in view its role in poverty alleviation, employment generation and for providing nutritional rich food.

It was also recommended that management of all the water bodies should be transferred to the Fisheries Department for their scientific management and to increase the fish productivity.

Scientists also stressed the need to encourage utilisation of inland salt affected areas for aqua-culture with adequate safeguards against possible environmental degradation.

They called for an environment friendly policy to provide incentives for encouraging private investment in creating basic marketing infrastructure, fish processing and value addition.

The workshop also recommended organising cooperatives, self- help groups to provide self-employment and collective management of open water bodies with some regulatory mechanism for sustainable fish production.

It was pointed out that instead of increasing the production, the experts should first strive for sustaining the present fish productivity of nearly 5,000 kg per hectare per year.

In the valedictory function, Mr Sameer Mathur, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Fisheries, appreciated the initiatives taken by the CIFE in sensitising and facilitating the process of developing the policy guidelines.

Mr Naseem Ahmad, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Environment, highlighted the environmental issues connected to the aqua-system.

UNI