'Bengal's initiative to examine quality of waterbodies can be model for other states'

The state government's initiative to examine the quality of water in each waterbody in the state can be a model project for the other states to follow as this will help augment pisciculture in the state.

The State Fisheries Department is procuring the most advanced satellite images through which the department can be able to assess the condition of various waterbodies across the state. The senior officials will examine the quality of water after going through the satellite images.

The experts in the field said that if the project is a success, it can be model projects for the other states as well. Experts also feel that examining water quality is an important factor towards the production of fishes. The quality of water always determines the increase in the production of fishes.

Bengal is the first state to come up with this unique idea so that the people involved in pisciculture can have technical assistance from the government. The project will also give the people involved in fish farming a detailed idea on how to improve the quality of water. The state government has taken up the project to increase the production of fishes in the state.

An expert said that various parameters such as dissolved oxygen content in water, chlorophyll, water turbidity, water depth plays an important role in the development of pisciculture in the state.

The state Fisheries department, after considering various issues, will examine the quality of water of the ponds or any other waterbodies so that the farmers get some guidelines from the department before investing money into the fish cultivation business. After conducting a research, the department has decided to use satellite images which will give a proper picture of the waterbodies even at the farthest corners of the state. Many of fisher-folk often incur losses after they cultivate fingerlings in the ponds without the examining the water quality. Many people in the villages depend on bank loans and later, they miserably fail to repay the loans if the fish cultivation was not good.

After going through the satellite images one will be able to know the condition of a particular water body to find if it is suitable for pisciculture. The farmers will also have prior information from the department on the nature of a pond before getting bank loans. Some of these parameters relating to the quality of water can be estimated from multispectral satellite images.