"We have a daunting task of achieving per capita availability of 15 kg of fish in the region with a total production of about seven lakh tones by 2020," P Jayasankar, Director of Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture in Bhubaneswar said today.
To achieve this target, the region will have to double its fish production in another eight years, Jayasankar said at a consultative conclave on aquaculture development in North-Eastern states.
Identifying the region as 'rich' in natural resources for development of fisheries, the CIFA director said N-E states provide an "ideal environment" for the same with a total of 14,648 km of riverine resources in the form of rivers, reservoirs, lakes, ponds, streams, flood plains and wetlands.
Jayasankar noted that the region's exploitation of aquatic resources has remained 'low', and expanding of fishery resources both horizontally and vertically can open up vast opportunities in aquaculture development.
Presently, the region produces over three lakh Metric tonne of fish in a year with Meghalaya contributing to 4,577 MT, Assam 2.3 lakh MT, Manipur 20,200 MT, Mizoram 2,901 MT, Nagaland 6,585 MT, Tripura 49,231 MT and Sikkim 180 MT.
Meghalaya government is raising 100 fish sanctuaries to promote tourism apart from setting a target to produce 25,000 MT of fish in a year at the end of the 12th Year Five Year.
To achieve this, the investment on fisheries in the state will be raised from a mere Rs 3 crore to 1200 crore a year, K N Kumar, Principal Secretary (Fisheries) said.
