The Manipur fishery department will be utilizing the existing reservoirs, hill stream and riverine to create 10,000 hectares of new fish ponds/tanks for fish farming by introducing pen culture and cage culture activities in order to meet the increasing demands. Disclosing this to a media interaction here on Monday, Director of Fisheries David K Shimray said ,So we’ll be releasing 6 lakhs fingerlings at Mapithel dam, 2 lakhs at Khuga dam and 1 lakh at Khoupum dam soon. Manipur produces only about 32,000 Metric tones against the requirement of 42,000 metric tones in spite of having a total water area of 56,461 hectares as the farmers utilizes only about 19,500 hectares for fish farming, said the Additional Director Fisheries E Sulochana while participating in the media interaction. Even though the state imports table fishes from other areas, the fish farmers of the region also exports their endemic fish varieties simultaneously, the Director added. Endemic fisheries are given important and production of Pengba and other fishes have increased. The department also provides one year certificate course on Fisheries Development and administration.Many students from Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh,Nagaland and Meghalaya are also undergoing training. Manipur fishes will be available in canned form in the market within two to three months time once the fish processing unit which is currently under construction is commissioned, said the Joint Director H Biramani Singh of state fisheries. The department is trying to attain self sufficiency in table fish production which may be around 65,000 tonnes per annum by the end of ten years. There are many agricultural lands in hill areas where there are water permanently and development of Paddy-cum- Pisciculture is taken up in those areas. Under the programme 37 number of 1 hectare pond could be developed at Khullakpat in Imphal West district and 265 hectares of paddy cum pisciculture in five hill districts, he added.
2016 Eastern Mirror.