State fisheries department “fish breeding programme” got underway on May 18 and will continue till mid-June at Government fish farm Jorpukhri, Dimapur, Government fish farm Nathanglo, Mokokchung and Urra village community fish hatchery, Dimapur. In a press release, assistant director of fisheries Nagaland, Kohima Ketusielie Angami stated that the training is conducted by technical personnel from fisheries department and with the availability of good brooders, it is expected to produce about 4.5 to 5.0 million seeds of advanced fry from these hatchery farms during the season.
He said employing the technique of induce breeding, fishes are induced to spawn using synthetic hormones. Here, fish spawning and hatching takes place in specially designed circular spawning and hatching tanks also known as the chinese hatchery or eco-hatchery.
Ketusielie informed that so far, the different species of fish successfully bred so far include major carps – Catla catla (catla), Labeo rohita (rohu), Cirrhinus mrigala (mrigal), Labeo calbasu, Labeo gonius; exotic carps – Ctenopharyngodon idella (grass carp), Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (silver carp) and minor carps – Labeo bata. With the present fish seeds (fries) production from our hatcheries (both government and private) estimated at about 40-45 million, he said the rate of survival is drastically reduced by more than 50% in the nurseries before they attain fingerling stage. Ketusielie said this is due to unavailability of sufficient nurseries coupled with improper and careless handling and management which leaves the department with only a mere 8-10 million fingerlings up against a total requirement of 20-25 million fingerlings.
He then said that the shortfall was often met by importing from the neighbouring state of Assam with many undue disadvantages in terms of quality, quantity and species.
Ketusielie however informed that there are also some additional unaccounted productions of common carp seeds produced by local fish farmers in certain pockets of the state which also adds to the seed production of the state.
Considering the breeding behaviour of most of “our” cultured carps, he said they are known to do well in tropical monsoon climate (250-300C) and therefore Ketusielie said the location of carp hatcheries in Nagaland is a crucial factor where major portion of the state have temperate climatic conditions. He then stated that it is estimated that with another 2-3 additional seed hatcheries at suitable Agro climatic locations, the state should be self sufficient in fish seeds. Fish production could then be easily doubled from the present production of 7500 MT which will drastically reduce fish imports by at least 50 percent thereby saving the state’s exchequer to a great extent, added Ketusielie.