ITANAGAR, Feb 29: Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker, Pasang D Sona stressed on prospects of adopting trout farming as a true vocation for livelihood and nutrition security by mountain dwellers. He was attending a day long national consultation programme on ‘coldwater fisheries development in Arunachal Pradesh’ at the DK Convention Centre here on Saturday. The programme was organized by the ICAE-DCFR Bhimtal, Uttarakhand, in collaboration with the state’s fisheries department with the objective of initiating and discussing the aspects of promotion and expansion of coldwater fish farming in the state.
Sona also advised on exploring angling avenues in pristine areas, and to integrate it with aquaculture to develop fish based eco-tourism model to further enhance the rural tourism as a sustainable source of income in the upland areas of the state. He assured his help in this endeavour.
State Fisheries Commissioner, Belatee Pertin emphasized on the importance of ‘capture fisheries’ among the local residents thriving along the river line. He said, “It is the need of the hour to address the judicious harvesting of fishes from these natural resources on one hand, and to frame policies based on priorities on sustainable expansion of species diversification for aquaculture on the other hand.”
The commissioner requested the QRT chairman and the ICAR-DCFR director to establish regional center of DCFR Bhimtal in the state.
He assured all support from the government.
Rajiv Gandhi University Vice Chancellor Dr Saket Khuswaha pointed out the need to analyze location-specific enterprises in aquaculture to be developed in the remotest villages along the borderline to avoid migration of local residents to the state capital or district headquarters in search of employment.
ICAR-CIFE former vice chancellor Dr Dilip Kumar stressed on developing plan of action for development of coldwater fisheries and aquaculture by collaborative efforts from the Department of Fisheries, research institutes such as ICAR-DCFR, KVKs as well as fish farmers. He further advised to work in synergy to usher in a real-time blue revolution.
Pasighat NEIFM Zoologist ,Dr K Bagra and J N College’s Assistant Professor Dr Kadu spoke on identification and documentation of coldwater fishes in hill streams based on their economic importance.
Attending the programme, trout-based entrepreneurs from Shi-Yomi and Anjaw districts emphasized on the need to implement all the developmental schemes by the fisheries department at upland areas. They also requested for all possible technical help by the research institutes.