GENERAL

FISH.

Water Resources.

The Wardha river flows along the entire northern and western borders of the district. The Wunna (Venna), along with the Bor and Dham, is an important tributary of Wardha and constitutes the main riverine system within the district. Asodha (Yeshodha) and Pothra are the other two tributaries of the Wardha, flowing through the district. All these tributaries of the Wardha river, within the district, have a total length of about 500 kilometres.

An important source of water for irrigation in the district, which has incidentally offered scope for development of fisheries is the Bor reservoir having an approximate water spread of 3,500 acres. There are four large perennial tanks-Kelzar tank at Kelzar, Deo tank at Nachangaon, Sarangpur tank at Arvi and Kapileshwar tank at Asthi. Besides, there are 30 seasonal tanks; many of these tanks belong to the gram panchayats. The total acreage of impounded water in the district is about 4,000 acres.

Fish Varieties.

The important varieties of fishes, occurring in the water resources of the district are as follows:-

The bulk of the fish catch from water resources in the district comprises major carps (Rohu, Catla and Mrigal), catfishes and murrels. The Goda-vari prawn, Macrobrachium malcomsonii, is caught in small quantities in Wardha and Wunna rivers.

The most common gear used for fishing is the cast net, locally called ' Bhavar Jal, and the scoop/net, called ' Pelni '. A drag net, locally called 'Zorly' admeasuring about six metres to ten metres in length with a mesh ranging from 1" to 6" is also operated.

The material used for fabricating most of these gears has been cotton twine; but in recent years, fishermen have realised the advantages of using synthetic fibres and are progressively replacing cotton twine mostly with nylon. Nylon, although considerably costlier than the cotton twine, is cheaper in the long run, when considered from the point of view of utility and advantages attached to it; the department encourages the usage of nylon by giving subsidy to the fishermen.

Besides nets traps made of bamboo strips are also used as fixed contrivances in the form of funnel shape.

The boat that is mainly used by the fishermen in the district is the dugout canoe.

Fishermen.

There are about 5,000 fishermen in the district out of whom only 1,500 are full-time fishermen. Fishing is a subsidiary means of livelihood for the rest.

The fishermen belong to the following sub-castes:-

Dhoniar, Bhoi, Kewat, Palawar Bhoi, Bhanari, Machhindra, Bendora, Zingo Bhoi, and Bastala.

Development Activities.

Taking into consideration the fact that the riverine fisheries of the district are not rich, emphasis has been given to bring as much acreage of impounded water under pisciculture as possible. Nearly 3,900 acres out of the total area of 4,000 acres of impounded waters in the district have been surveyed and brought under pisciculture by stocking these waters with fish seed of quick growing varieties comprising Catla, Rohu and Mrigal. With a view to producing the fish seed within the district, two fish seed farms have been established, one at Bor and the other at Kelzar. To intensify the development of fisheries in the district with a view to increasing fish production and to improving the socio-economic condition of fishermen, a separate scheme - Wardha Plan - was implemented. This scheme covered the expansion programme of the fish-seed farms at Bor and Kelzar, and grant of loans to grampanchayats for repairs of tanks.

The farm at Kelzar is located on Wardha-Nagpur road and has an expanse of 8.0 acres of which an area of 4.3 acres is water-spread, comprising 66 ponds for rearing fry and brood fish. The water supply to this farm is from the Bor Canal system through a specially constructed feeder channel.

The farm at Bor is situated below the Yeshvant dam, on a 3.8 acre piece of land. It consists of 24 ponds with a total water-spread area of 1.6 acres. The supply of water to this farm is from Bor main canal.

To undertake these development activities in the district, an Assistant Superintendent of Fisheries has been appointed with the requisite staff to assist him.

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