A three-member scientific team from ICAR-CIBA comprised of Dr. M. Muralidhar, Principal Scientist & SIC, Environment Section, Dr. P.K. Patil, Principal Scientist, AAHED & OIC, ITMU, and Mr. Jose Antony, Scientist, Crustacean Culture Division had comprehensive field visits and interactions with the officials of Fisheries Departments, farmers and other stakeholders in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan states to promote the planned development of Inland Salinewater Aquaculture (INSA) during 10-15 October, 2022.
The team met Dr. Sanjay Kumar Nishad, Honorable Minister of Fisheries, Govt. of UP, Shri. Prasanth Sharma IAS, Director of Fisheries, Uttar Pradesh and other fisheries department officials at Lucknow on 10th October, 2022 and discussed the prospects of developing the INSA. The minister asked CIBA to train the fisheries development officials for the scientific development of shrimp farms in the state. The team also met Shri. Meghraj Singh Ratnu, IAS, Director of Fisheries, Rajasthan on 13th October, 2022 and discussed on the development of INSA in Rajasthan.
During the discussions with officials and farmers, CIBA team articulated that there is a need for a policy for the planned development of saline water aquaculture in the inland states with an emphasis on preventing the negative impacts on nearby environment, freshwater resources and agriculture land. Further, the team stressed the need for zonation of aquaculture to demarcate, notify and regulate areas for shrimp aquaculture development adopting cluster approach and avoid negative impacts. The team had extensive field visits and conducted interaction meetings with the shrimp farmers and fisheries officials of UP, Rajesthan Haryana and Punjab states during 12-15th October, 2022 and discussed on major production issues such as poor quality of seed, developing a mechanism to ensure seed quality, water quality amendments, diseases, quality inputs and marketing.
