Minister of Fisheries, Govt. of Manipur visited the CIFRI cage culture site at Dumbur Reservoir, Tripura

14 December 2022,Tripura

Shri H. Dingo Singh, Minister of Fisheries, Social Welfare, Skill, Labour, Employment and Entrepreneurship, Government of Manipur along with Shri H. Balkrishna Singh, Director, Department of Fisheries, Govt. of Manipur visited Dumbur Reservoir, Tripura to see the activities of ICAR-CIFRI, Barrackpore related to reservoir fisheries production enhancement especially the cage culture experiments conducted in the reservoir. Shri Dingo Singh interacted with the scientists of ICAR-CIFRI and Fisheries Department officials of Tripura and expressed his interest to adopt the enclosure fish culture activities including pen and cage culture to achieve sustainable fisheries development and production enhancement in the state of Manipur. He also appreciated the efforts of ICAR-CIFRI in developing the fisheries sector in the North-Eastern States, especially Manipur, and assured to adopt the CIFRI technologies for inland open water fisheries production enhancement in the state.

Dumbur is a medium reservoir (3,049 ha) covering the Dhalai and Gomati districts of Tripura, Northeast India. ICAR-CIFRI has taken up cage culture activities in the reservoir since 2021 under the NEH component to enhance the fish production from this reservoir. ICAR-CIFRI has been providing training and technology backstopping for cage culture in the reservoir.

An awareness programme on ‘Cage culture in reservoir for enhancing fish production’ was organized by ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute in collaboration with Department of Fisheries, Govt. of Tripura at Raishyabari block, Dhalai district, Tripura on 15 December 2022 in presence of Shri H. S. Jamatia, Chairman, West Paticherra ADC, Shri Nanda Gopal Noatia, DDF, other officials of the state fisheries department and 50 fishers.

Dr. B.K. Das, Director, ICAR-CIFRI, Barrackpore emphasized that cage culture is an intensive aquaculture system where the growth of fish is mainly dependent on quality and quantity of feed inputs, stocking density, and maintenance of cage nets. Dr. Das emphatically stated that the selection of species plays a pivotal role in determining the economic feasibility of cage culture. During the programme, he distributed 10 numbers of net cages to the fishers.

A scientists-fishermen interaction meeting was also successfully conducted at Dumbur Reservoir on 15 December 2022 and discussed the issues, and way forward related to the reservoir fisheries management including cage culture; and provided on-site suggestions for improvement of cage culture practice.

The meeting was chaired by Dr. B.K. Das, Director, ICAR-CIFRI, and coordinated by Dr. S.C.S. Das, Sr. Scientist, and Dr. D.J. Sarkar, Sr. Scientist, ICAR-CIFRI, officials of DoF, Govt. of Tripura and fishermen of the reservoir.

(Source: ICAR- Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore)