HP to develop technology for snow trout breeding

Shimla:  Himachal Pradesh will develop technology for breeding of snow trout fish in the state so that its production could be increased by stocking of its seed in the rivers. Addressing general meeting of Indian Council of Agriculture Research ( ICAR ) at New Delhi yesterday, Himachal Pradesh Forest and Fisheries Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri sought assistance for conducting survey through national institutes for the identification of number of ornamental fish species available in the state rivers.

This will help in raising economic standard of rural youth, he said. The meeting was presided over by Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh. The Fisheries Minister requested the ICAR to provide assistance for introducing some new species of cold water fishes, best suited to high altitude lakes/streams of the state. Mr Bharmouri said that intervention of R&D institutions was required to evolve formulation of cheap pelletised feed with locally available ingredients without compromising the quality.

The Minister said that the technology of captive breeding for Mahsheer needs to be strengthened by habitat restoration for the protection of brooders & promotion of natural breeding. He said that over 11,844 fishermen families were engaged in fishing operations and earning their livelihood from state waters and added that State reservoirs had the distinction of producing highest per hectare fish (149.2 kg per hectare annum in Gobind Sagar) as well as giving highest per kg price for the fishermen of their fish (Rs. 212/- per kg in Pong reservoir) as compared to other large reservoirs of the country. He said that the State was producing over 417.23 MT of trout fish annually and total fish production of the state attained the level of 11736 MT during the year 2015-16. (UNI)