Min visits farm in Kolaghat, says salinity of river water best suited for growth of Hilsa

Kolkata: State Fisheries minister Biplab Roy Chowdhury on Monday paid a visit to a farm at Kolaghat in East Midnapore where local fishermen have successfully cultivated Hilsa in a pond.

“We have earlier found Hilsa being cultivated in ponds in Kakdwip, but the size has not gone beyond 500 gm. However, among 197 Hilsa fishes of various sizes here, we have found that a good number have grown in the range of 600 to 650 gm,” said Roy Chowdhury.

A team from ICAR-CIFRI led by its Director B K Das accompanied the minister on Monday.

ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CIFRI) Barrackpore has collaborated with ICAR-CIBA (ICAR-Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture) regional centre at Kakdwip, ICAR CIFA (ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture) regional centre at Rahara and ICAR-CIFE (ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education) regional centre at Kolkata have successfully reared more than 2500 hilsa in 15 ponds spanned across three districts highlighting the prospects of successful captive Hilsa culture in ponds, if properly managed.

The move to cultivate Hilsa in ponds assumes significance in the backdrop of depleting reserves of the most sought after fish in Bengali menu.

The pond-grown Hilsa involves three districts — North 24-Parganas (Rahara and Kalyani), South 24-Parganas (Kakdwip) and Kolaghat.

“The salinity of river water is best suited for the growth of Hilsa. In this waterbody at Kolaghat, the pond water has been mixed with that from Rupnarayan River and has been captive bred successfully. The water bodies located close to rivers have this additional advantage that we need to cash on to spread this cultivation further,” the minister added.

The scientists have artificially produced zooplankton and provided it as food along with other specially designed feed developed at ICAR-CIBA and ICAR-CIFA that contributed to the good growth of the fishes in ponds.