West Bengal government is set to launch a unique fish tourism in Sunderbans to attract domestic as well as international tourists. The plan is to provide a scope to the tourists to witness fish-farming there along with visiting the tiger reserve, biosphere reserve, forest bed and backwater and wide varieties of wild lives especially the Royal Bengal tiger. In a recent meeting at state secretariat, fisheries department minister Chandranath Sinha, Sundarbans development minister, Manturam Pakhira and Bio-technology minister Ashis Banerjee had prepared a draft plan of this project. “The money spent by the tourists will go for the development of fishermen communities here. This will be completely eco-friendly tourism programme. The Self-Help Groups of this delta will be benefited,” said Sundarbans development minister. The state fisheries minister is hopeful about the economic upliftment of the poor fish farmers. “Many women are farming carps and shrimps. Their work would be showcased in front of the international tourists,” said the minister. Sundarbans is the natural breeding ground of stinging catfish, snakehead murrel and some Indian carps as well. These fishes are generally farmed in the crop-cultivation land where knee-deep water is enough to produce and nurture those fishes. The state tourism department have recently decided to tie-up with a Kerala based private company to build seven houseboats for Sundarbans. Those houseboats will be plying alongside the creeks of Sundarbans, Tajpur and Mandarmani.
2016 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.