MillenniumPost
Bengal

Soon, state govt to develop roadmap for inland fisheries

Kolkata: The state Fisheries department is going to prepare a roadmap for the better development of inland fisheries in the state and develop a comprehensive strategy to protect the interest of small scale fisherfolk across the state.
The main purpose of the roadmap would be to focus on the utilisation of potentialities of inland fisheries in the state, augment the production of fishes and sustainably use the fish resources. The guideline will also focus on the protection of waterbodies and their catchment areas.
It may be mentioned that the state government may urge the Centre to implement the national policy with an aim to help marginalised and poor fishermen in the state to get rid of deprivation.
The main purpose behind setting up the platform by the Centre is to fight for the interest of small scale fish workers throughout the country, meet the demands of the fishing community and protect their livelihood and the waterbodies. The National Policy on Inland Fisheries will mainly focus on the assessment of the potentialities of inland fisheries and a roadmap for utilisation of the potentialities.
The state government will sufficiently sensitise the need of a National Policy on Inland Fisheries and may raise the issue with the Centre.
Earlier, there had been attempts to organise the fishing communities but no major development had taken place in this regard.
A national level meeting was conducted in West Midnapore recently and an advisory committee has been appointed to prepare a roadmap.
The state Fisheries department will also conduct awareness campaigns to check the waterbodies and ponds from being polluted and encroached upon. In some cases, it has been found that various lakes have shrunk.
The roadmap will also address all the issues pertaining to small scale fishermen which have been unaddressed for a long time.

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