‘Tripura & Assam top water body use in pisciculture’

Guwahati: Tripura and Assam have the highest percentage of water bodies used for pisciculture, stated the first Water Bodies Census report released by the Union Jal Shakti ministry recently, carrying hope for making northeast by and large self-sufficient in fish production.The two northeastern states claim to have attained almost self-sustainability in fish production but tonnes of fish are being brought to the northeast every day for consumption, especially from south Indian states.Tripura by far stands at the top so far as percentage of utilisation of water bodies in fish farming by the states are concerned. In Tripura, 99.95% water bodies are used for pisciculture, the report said.Assam, where the use of formalin in transported fish has triggered a big controversy of late, has the second highest percentage of its water bodies (90.2) used for pisciculture among all states in the country, the census report added.Sanjay Sarma, state fisheries coordinator of World Bank-funded project APART, said, “More than 90% people in Assam and Tripura consume fish produced in their respective states since water-retention capacity of the water bodies are good in the northeast and even in winter the water bodies can be utilised for fish farming. By harnessing the potential, northeast can even send fish outside the region.”In Tripura, which shares borders with Mizoram, Assam and Bangladesh, out of all water bodies, 99.99% (36,235) are in use whereas only 0.01% are not. “Out of 36,239 water bodies in Tripura, there is only one natural water body and the rest all are man-made. Out of 36,238 man-made water bodies, 88.7% (32,140) water bodies are located in rural areas and the rest 11.3% (4,098) are in urban areas. Most of the man-made water bodies have original cost of construction upto Rs 50,000,” read the report.In Assam, out of all water bodies, 98.2% or 1,69,352 have been found to be in use during the census, whereas only 1.8% percent (3,140 water bodies) are not in use on account of drying up, siltation, salinity, destroyed beyond repair and other reasons, read the report.