GUWAHATI, Dec 15 � More than 100 researchers, development managers, policy makers and various stakeholders from the region and Central Research Institutes, development banks came together to establish the first ever Regional Network for Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, a press release said.
The two-day workshop at the Administrative Staff College here recently to establish the network was inaugurated by Nurjamal Sarkar, Minister for Fisheries, Irrigation, and Soil Conservation.
The workshop was organised jointly by the Department of Fisheries, Assam, National Fisheries Development Board, Hyderabad and Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) based in Bhubaneswar, Orissa with PK Borthakur, Commissioner and Secretary for GAD, secretariat and fisheries was the convener.
PK Borthakur, welcoming the delegates, articulated the achievements made by Assam in making the fisheries sector strong and growth oriented and appreciated the support of ICAR and NFDB. In his inaugural address, Sarkar congratulated CIFA for coming with the noble idea of bringing all concerned together for formalisation of the network. He thanked CIFA and other ICAR institutes as well as NFDB who were generous in providing technical and financial support to the State for meeting the growing demand of fish.
Dr C Vasudevappa, Senior Executive Director of NFDB described the various growth-oriented programmes being promoted by the NFDB in the NER. He underscored the need for collective approaches to issues that affect the region as a whole and a renewed focus on development research rather than research for its own sake. There should be concerted action to pilot test technologies and upscale them for faster adoption by farmers. Dr Maniranjan Sinha, technical advisor to the Government of Tripura, emphasised the importance of fisheries and aquaculture for the overall socio-economic development of the region.
The fisheries sector in the NER suffers from a paradox of high potential for growth but registers low overall productivity leading to a huge gap in demand and supply of food fish. A region rich in water resources but spends a huge amount of money to bring fish from outside the region to the people is a puzzle that awaits answers.
The sector has registered a growth of only 3.73 per cent during 1980-2006, which is much lower than the national trend. Aquaculture productivity is also low at 1.5 tons per ha compared to national average of over 2.21. The per capita food fish availability is only 6.8 kg against the minimum nutritional requirement of 11 kg. It has been estimated that the region spends about Rs. 1600 crores every year to import fish. The R & D efforts over the years appear to have been conducted in a fragmented and isolated manner. Even though a large number of professionals are working in the region, their efforts and resources are thinly spread across location-specific themes and research areas with limited impact.
Bringing together of scientists, research managers and development agencies on a common platform will consolidate the R & D efforts, mutually support and reinforce individual efforts towards a sustainable development of the fisheries and aquaculture in the NER in a programmatic mode. Dr Ambedkar Eknath, the director of CIFA, based on his long standing experience of working with various global networks steered the workshop towards the establishment of this regional network.
The Guwahati workshop is the third in the series of participatory discussions towards the establishment of this unique network in the region, taking the outcomes of two prior workshops in Shillong in September 2009 and in Gangtok in March 2010. The overall developmental goal of the network will be to develop a common vision for sustainable aquaculture and fisheries development of the region with the following specific objective; i.e, to complement and strengthen existing capacity to develop critical mass of professionals to address common issues and problems unique to NER, including increasing fish production and productivity, enhancing rural incomes and employment, and diversification of species and production systems.
Secondly, to share resources to effectively implement R & D agenda with due regard to the needs and priorities; besides to provide a forum for sharing of ideas, technologies, and information, and provide policy advocacy for enhanced and sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture in NER.
Formal by-laws for effective governance, operational modalities and other procedural formalities, including development of R&D agenda were finalised and accepted unanimously and by acclamation. The commissioner and Secretary PK Borthakur formally declared the network in NER established. All participating institutions pledged their commitment to the success of the new network. A comprehensive all-inclusive R&D research agenda for sustainable development of aquaculture in NER was presented to the National Fisheries Development Board for consideration of support.
