‘Ganderbal: India’s best-performing district in fisheries sector’

Srinagar, Mar 02: Ganderbal in central Kashmir is the best-performing district in the fisheries sector throughout India, official said on Thursday.
Assistant Director Fisheries Ganderbal, Dr Salman Chalkoo said the Government of India has a dedicated portal named Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana on which Ganderbal stands number one best-performing district in fisheries sector throughout India.
“Out of 700 districts in India, Ganderbal stands at number one. It was announced at the end of January (2023),” he said.
Ganderbal district has 165 fish farmers that include both carp and trout. The district produces 1100 MT of fish in a year. Each year, Ganderbal increases five to 10 tons of fish as 10-15 units are established every year.
“The Department of Fisheries is planning to send some consignments of fish to the Middle East. Some private players are also coming. In Ganderbal, one private player has come with the production potential of 930 metric tons in a unit and that would be also exported,” the AD Fisheries said.
He also said that under the Fisheries Infrastructure Development Plan (FIDF) scheme the department is implementing two projects which will add five to fifty tons of fish.
He said FIDF envisages creation of fisheries infrastructure facilities both in marine and inland fisheries sectors and augment the fish production to achieve the target set under the Blue Revolution.
With an aim to further push the fisheries industry, in Sep 2022 the Jammu and Kashmir Fisheries Department opened a shop in Delhi to sell fish varieties in order to expand its wider reach to global customers.
“We aim to send live fish varieties to Delhi via special vans. Normally, people love to see live trout and then eat. Frozen trout does not taste good as compared to live trout,” Chalkoo said.
“We are trying to reach out to metropolitans to sell Kashmiri trout fish varieties. This move is aimed to further push the fisheries industry in the district. We are also focussed on privatization of fish farming,” he said.
The AD said they have a special marketing wing that works for transportation facilities to farmers when the stock is sent to outside Kashmir like Delhi.
“We also have another part that is liaising with other institutions like hotels and fish-consuming stations,” he said.
Chalkoo said recently, a Fish Producing Organization (FPO) was established in the district through which companies can coordinate with the group, not with one person. Notably, trout fish variety has been proposed for GI Tag by the fisheries department.
The AD also said that 60 lakh genetically improved germplasm of rainbow and brown trout varieties will be brought from Denmark in the next winter season.
“Both the varieties are disease resistant and the growth pattern is also fast. It is aimed to further boost the economy of fish farmers,” he said.
Fish farming is fast emerging as a potential sector for rural unemployed youth. The fish farms in the private sector have increased manifold with hundreds of people getting attracted to this trade in the district.