Bhubaneswar: The Union Government has sanctioned Odisha Rs.603 Crore for implementation of various fisheries related activities in the State.
Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying (MoFAH&D) under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) during the last two financial years and current year has accorded approvals to the fisheries development proposals of Government of Odisha.
This funding will boost overall development and welfare of fishermen in the State including livelihood and nutritional support for over 20,000 traditional and socio-economically backward fishermen families during the fishing ban period annually, officials said.
As a matter of fact the Fisheries Research Institutes under the aegis of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) have been conducting research regularly for understanding the impacts of climate change in order to develop climate resilient strategies for sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture.
The studies on the impact of climate change undertaken by ICAR institutes under “National Innovation in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA)” include vulnerability assessment of the wetland fisheries in Odisha, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, and Kerala.
Studies are taken up on climate trend analysis for major river basins across India; Impact on fish distributional range, catch composition and yield etc.
In marine fisheries, studies on climate change modeling, projection on fish catch & marine culture production under climate change scenarios, risk and vulnerability assessment of marine fisheries, wetland mapping, carbon footprint, blue carbon potential, ocean acidification, response of capture and culture species to climate change and adaptive management in response to climate change are carried out under the NICRA Project.
Climate campaigns and awareness programs are also conducted in the states like Odisha, Assam, West Bengal, and Kerala in order to increase preparedness and adaptive capacity of fishers against climate change.
PMMSY has taken steps to intensify and diversify inland fisheries and aquaculture with focus on diversification of species, introduction of new species and peg the critical gaps in the demand and supply of quality brood and seed of cultivable species and species-specific feeds, Adequate number of brood banks, hatcheries, seed rearing units, specific pathogen free or resistant seed, genetically improved brood stock, and feed mills.
As a result, inland fisheries and aquaculture has contributed 74.59% of the total fish production of India during 2021-22.
Further, the Department of Fisheries under PMMSY is also supporting exposure visits, training and capacity building program of fish farmers and other stakeholders in modern technologies developed in fisheries and aquaculture such as cage culture in reservoir, pen culture in wetlands, biofloc technology, recirculatory aquaculture system, scaling up of freshwater prawn (scampi) culture, promotion of inland saline aquaculture in potential areas to improve farm practices for enhanced production.