FISHERY RESOURCES OF INDIA

. What are the different fishery resources?

A. Fishes are primarily aquatic organisms living in different types of water bodies. Fish living in freshwater bodies like rivers, streams, reservoirs, lakes, ponds and tanks constitute inland fish. Those organisms that live in estuarine regions (the region where river meets the sea)are called brackish water organisms. Those live in seas are referred as marine. The commercially important organisms like fish, crustaceans, molluscs that live in these three types of water bodies constitute Inland/Freshwater Fisheries, Brackish water Fisheries and marine fisheries.

Inland/Freshwater Fishery resources of India

Inland Fishery Resources in India are very rich. About 30% of total fish production of India is contributed by Inland Fishery. India's fresh water resources consist of 195,210 kilometers of rivers and canals, 2.9 million hectares of minor and major reservoirs, 2.4 million hectares of ponds and lakes

The major Fresh water inland water bodies are the Ganges System, Brahmaputra System of Northern part of India - Mahanadi, Krishna, Godavari, Cauvery, Narmada, Tapti river systems of southern part.
River Ganga: Ganga originates in Himalayan region and extends over 12500 km length and with an estimated 97.6 million hectars area suitable for fishing. The fishes like Labeo rohita, Catla catla, Cirrhinus mrigila, Hilsa ilisha, Wallago attu, Notopterus chitala are some important species that are harvested from Ganga
River Brahmaputra: It is about 4,023km in length with 51 million hectares catchment area. It has rich fish fauna. Wallago attu, Labeo rohita, Mystus rita, Puntius sarana, Notopterus chitala, Cirrhinus mrigila are some of the fish that are found in Brahmaputra
River Narmada: The length of the river is 1280 km, The effective catchments area of this river system is 94235 sq. km and 6330 sq. km of its all tributaries.
The carp fish groups are Labeo frimbriatus, L.calabasu, L.bata,Cirrhinus reba, Puntius sarana etc, cat fish groups such as Mystus senghala, M. cavasius, Wallago attu, Clupisomagarua, otherfish groups like Tor tor; Channaspp, Mastacembalus spp; Notopterus notopterus etc.
River Cauvery : This river has a length of 800 km with catchment area of 4,70000 sq km.
The fishes like Tor. Putitora, Barbus dubius, Labeo kontius,Cirrhinus cirhosa, Mystus seenghala, Pangasius pangasius,Wallago attu, carps such as Catla catla; Labeo rohita; Cirrhinus mrigala and the exoticspecies Cyprinus carpio and Osphronemus goramy& game fish like Tor khudri and Tmussullahare also found in Cauvery.
Tapti River:This river is with a total length of 720 km and a total catchments area of 48,000 sq.km.
The main fisheries of this river system are Tor tor, Mystusseenghala, Wallago attu, Labeo calabasu, Labeo fimbriata, Cirrhinus mrigala, Channa spp etc

Inland resources of Andhra Pradesh
River Godavari: Its length is 1465 km and has a total catchments area of over 315,980 sqkm. The fishes available are – Labeo rohita, L. calabasu, L. fimbriatus, Catla catla, Cirhinus mirigala, Mystes singhaal, Wallago attu, Hilsa ilaisha, Bangarius bagarius, Macrobrachium rosenbergii etc. During monsoon months Hilsa fishery contributes much to the economy of this region.
River Krishna: It has a length of 1401km with a total catchment area of 2,33,229 sq km. The Fish fauna of Krishna river resembels the Godavari river systems.
River Penna: Its length is 600 km. In summer it dries up. Some carp and other cat fishes are found in it.

Brackish water fisheries

The region where the rivers meet the seas is called estuary. The salinity of these waters is highly variable from 5ppt to 30ppt depending on season and tides of the sea. The organisms which can tolerate rapid salinity fluctuations only can survive in these waters. Such organisms are called euryhaline organisms. The brackish water is rich in nutrients.
The important estuaries in India include the Hoooghly estuary where Ganga join bay of Bengal, Mahanadi estuary in Gujarath, Krishna-Godavari estuary in Andhra Pradesh, Cauvery Estuary in Tamilnadu. Important brackish water lakes are Chilka lake in orissa, pulicat lake in Tamilnadu, kolleru lake in andhra pradesh.

Types of Estuaries: The estuaries can be categorised as Open estuary and Enbanked estuary. In open estuaries the river directly is connected to the sea. In enbanked estuary the estuary is surrounded by land. It is connected to the sea during hightides and heavy rains only. Eg. Lagoons.
Characters of Estuary
a. The water is mixure of freshwater and marine water
b. The pH value of water is between 7.5-8.5
c. The water is rich in nutrents
d. The Oxygen content will be less
e. It forms a good breeding ground for many fishes
f. Estuary harbours many Anadromous and catadromous fishes.
There are about 1.2 million hectares brackishwater area available in India suitable for farming. Out of it only 13% only is being utilised.