Himachal Pradesh government today said the state has produced more than 42,000 metric tonnes of fish from its existing water resources in the past four years and provided ample opportunities for livelihood to farmers through fisheries.
The fishery industry in the state has emerged as an important source of revenue because of efforts made by the government to bring 'Blue Revolution', an official spokesman said.
The state government is establishing four fish processing units with assistance from Kochi-based Central Institute of Technology to prepare fish added products, he said, adding the the products would have a shelf life of more than one year.
In order to create more self-employment opportunities in this sector, various schemes-worth over Rs 35 crore have been sanctioned outside the budget in past four years and are under implementation, the spokesman said.
A sum of Rs 13 crore is being spent under the 'Blue Revolution' scheme and a provision of subsidy of Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh has been made to provide self-employment opportunities to locals, he said
Under the scheme hatcheries, fish farms, small and big fish ponds, fishery feed units and trout units are being established, the spokesman informed.
Apart from this, fish farms are being modernised and hatcheries are being developed in the private sector to meet the increasing demand of fish seed, he said.
Fisheries activities has provided full-time self-employment to 6,098 fishermen in major reservoirs in last four years, including 2,741 at Gobind Sagar and 2,831 in Pong Dam, the spokesman said.
The state Fisheries Department is providing support services through 12 fish seed farms of which six are trout and remaining arecarp farms. Two trout farms are under construction at Thala and Banjar and one carp fish farm at Poanta Sahib, he said
Funds have been sanctioned for Rainbow Aquarium-cum-Museum Centre at Dharwala and with introduction of rainbow trout production technique, 611 more trout units have been established in the state, the spokesman said, adding major fish species available in the state are trout,mahasheer, barilus, glyptothorax etc.
The state has imported Hungarian common carp and Amoor common carp to boost production.
To ensure social and economic safety 12,000 active fishermen working in reservoirs have been brought under Reservoirs Fishermen Accident Insurance Scheme. It provides up toRs 2 lakh to dependents of fishermen in case of his death or permanent disability and Rs 1 lakh in case of partial disability, he said.
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