Himachal Pradesh is providing premium-free insurance cover to all the licensed fishermen in the hill state.
In the case of permanent disability, the fishermen would be entitled Rs 25,000. This was announced here on Friday by the Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, while reviewing a meeting of the state fisheries department.
“This move will benefit around 11,000 fishing families and will encourage people to adopt fisheries as a full-time vocation,” Dhumal said.
“There are 19 cooperative fishermen societies registered in the state making Himachal Pradesh the only state in the country where cooperative fish farming was being promoted,” he claimed.
“Himachal also has the distinction of being the first state in the country to introduce the rare trout farming in the private sector, which now contributes 50 tonnes of trout,” Dhumal said.
“The state was producing 7,337 tonnes of fish valued at Rs 37 crore and was contributing significantly towards providing quality fish to consumers. Efforts were afoot to develop the state’s first Mahaseer fish farm at Badon near Jogindernagar, while a new farm was also being built at Tirthan in the Kullu valley.
The hill state has river length of 3,000 km, which is rich in fish fauna. Besides three reservoirs of Gobind Sagar, Pong Dam and Chamera dam. These reservoirs have an area of 42,000 hectares available for rearing rainbow, brown trout among other fishes.
