 |
OTHER DEPARTMENTS
|
 |
FISHERIES DEPARTMENT.
Water Resources.
Chandrapur district is endowed by nature with good potential of water resources. It is traversed by five perennial rivers- Wardha, Wainganga, Pranhita, Indravati and Godavari all running a length of about 480 kilometres, and 14 small seasonal rivers and their tributaries. Besides these fluvial waters, there are four reservoirs and as many as 12,000 tanks including the puddles known as
bodi, all varying considerably in their dimensions, and having a total water surface area of about 41,000 acres. Of these only 4,000 tanks are considered to be perennial and the rest are either short or long seasonal. In respect of the total water resources, the district occupies the second highest position in fresh water fisheries potential in the State, next only to Bhandara.
Development Activities.
Considering the potentials of water resources from the view-point of fisheries development and at the same time to ameliorate the socio-economic condition of the fishermen, the Department of Fisheries has established an office exclusively for the district, under the charge of a Superintendent of Fisheries, Chandrapur, who is assisted in his technical work by one Assistant Superintendent of Fisheries and one Inspector of Fisheries
at the headquarters of the district and one Assistant Superintendent of fisheries each at Sindewahi and Brahmapuri.
Pisciculture is given considerable importance in this district. As the natural waters are Jacking in large densities of quick
growing varieties of carps such as Catla, Rohu and Mrigai, the tanks in the district are being surveyed with a view to bringing, on a progressive scale, as much area of water surface as possible, under pisciculture with these three types of fishes. Imported varieties of fish such as the common carp, Cyprinus carpio var. communis, Grass carp ctenopharyngodon idelius and Giant gourami-Osphronemus gauramy are also being introduced in certain tanks. Intensification of stocking of carp try or ' babies' of these fish is being undertaken every year, so much so that try requirements within the district increased from merely one million in 1961 to four million in 1965. Small nursery or rearing tanks are being constructed at several places to grow baby fish (fry) to a fingerling stage for releasing them into large reservoirs. The major quantity of the fry is obtained from outside the State, but progressive efforts are being made to produce as much fry as possible within the district itself by using harmone infection method (induced spawning).
To give an increasing fillip to ' fish-seed' production in the district and to undertake the investigations on prawn resources and their culture, a separate fresh water fisheries research sub-station has been proposed in the Fourth Five Year Plan along-with additional refrigeration and transport facilities for increased catches from tanks and lakes.
In socio-economic field, the fishermen in the district have been organised to form co-operative societies. There are 26 co-operative societies with a total membership of 1,800. Financial assistance is granted by way of adequate subsidy in the purchase of fishery requisites such as nylon and cotton twine. The co-operative societies and private fish culturists get some reduction in the price of imported carp fry, on the purchases made through Block Development Officers. The financial assistance is also granted by way of loan and subsidy for construction of rearing and nursery tanks, desilting and renovating tanks and screening of the outlets-all measures undertaken eventually towards better production of fish.
|
