Open source fisheries give a fillip to fingerling production

Tata Trusts helps cultivate the fish and each pond is producing huge quantities during rains.
Open source fisheries give a fillip to fingerling production

VISAKHAPATNAM: Several ponds and lakes which have been left unused by the fishermen in six districts in the state are now being put to use for production of fingerlings. Each pond has produced around 30,000 to 40,000 fingerlings in three months during the breeding season in monsoon season.The Tata Trusts have come up with ‘Open Source Fisheries’ programme which is being undertaken in 33 mandals in 190 villages of East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Anantapur and Kurnool districts. Seventy percent of the areas covered under the project are in Andhra Pradesh, while the rest are in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

The project is a joint collaboration of Tata Trusts,  the state government, and NGOs.  “With the growing fish consumption, there is a need to improve its sources. Though inland fishing sources hold good promises for generating income, a large portion of the water bodies remains underutilized owing to lack of technology and management practices. The Tata Trusts is exploring into such options,” said Karthik Ramesh, Open Source Fisheries leader of Tata Trusts.

 In a bid to disseminate low-cost technology to make inland fishing a profitable venture, the Tata Trusts launched Open Source Fisheries two years ago. Fishermen communities are being trained about how to run inland fishing units in a sustainable manner. “Taking the needs of fishermen into consideration, we have devised methods to utilise the unused ponds. This year, 179 nursery ponds have produced 2.1 crore fingerlings in more than 15,000 acres of water bodies,” he said.

Citing that issues associated with the stocking of fingerlings and their supply at Dwarapudi, Kaikalur and Bheemavaram, Karthik said they were trying to solve the problems by using simple techniques like the use of poultry waste, manure and farm waste as feed. Pursuing a goal of reaching out to 2 lakh families in India, the Tata Trusts have covered 10,000 families in three states, including 7,000 beneficiaries in AP in the last two years. 

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