Promotion of Fish Farming in Plain Districts

In Uttarakhand Fisheries Cooperatives were actively involved in aquafarming only in District Haridwar. Village society ponds were made available to primary fisheries cooperative societies formed from members of fisherman community on lease for aqua farming works. However, there have been various challenges which were causing hindrance in realisation of actual production of these water resources like encroachment of Village Society Ponds, pollution of ponds due to drainage of waste from village in them leading to eutrophication, a condition where excess nutrients lead to aquatic plant overgrowth and eventual lack of oxygen in the water, lack of technical know-how, lack of commercial approach to aqua farming, resistance in adopting newer and scientific farming methods etc. It is proposed to practice farming of different speciesin village society ponds like

• Carp farming
• Pangasius farming
• Integrated fish farming

With background of having 547 community ponds in Haridwar and 467 ponds in Udham Singh Nagar which could be potential resources for commercial fish farming various interventions were proposed under this project.

• Introduction of faster growing, hardy species Pangas along with carps for better returns.
• Construction of bye pass drain, sedimentation tank to check polluted water entering the ponds.
• Establishment of Duck hatchery to promote integrated fish farming in society ponds.
• Use of aerators, probiotics etc with regular monitoring and sampling.
• Use of fingerling as stocking material for better production and reduce mortality.
• Construction of feed cum office at pond site & Installing CCTV cameras for better vigilance.