Aquaculture output is expected to rise 33 percent over the next decade helping to meet the world's growing demand for fish as healthy and nutritious food gains popularity while fishing stagnates, t

Steady increase in extent of fish tanks as well as quantum of inland fishing. More and more farmers in East Godavari district are shifting to aquaculture if the steady increase in the extent of fish tanks as well as the quantum of inland fishing in the district is any indication.

Similarly, the fluctuations in the catch from the sea is giving strength to the argument that industrialisation along the coast is resulting in extinction of fish and other species and posing a threat to the livelihood of traditional fishermen.

The recurrence of large-scale fish death in the Periyar river has left environmentalists and the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) officials a worried lot.

The situation assumes importance in the wake of the ongoing trawling ban when the demand for freshwater fish is at its peak. According to environmentalists, after May 3, there have been over 18 instances of large-scale fish death in the Periyar. “Fish death has become common in Eloor. Though the phenomenon is usually seen in summer and was expected to stop with the onset of monsoon, it has not.

Biometric cards for fishing workers will be distributed in three months.

Minister for Fisheries and Excise K. Babu has said that projects worth Rs. 650 crore will be implemented this year for the development of fisheries sector. The projects will be implemented in association with the Fisheries department, Coastal Areas Development Corporation, Matsyafed, and Fishermen’s Welfare Fund Board, he said. He was talking after inaugurating the valedictory session of the State-level leadership camp of the Kerala Pradesh Matsya Thozhilali Congress here on Saturday.

As part of the steps taken by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) to alleviate malnutrition among the tribal community living at Valappur atop Kolli Hills, the foundation has initiated rearing of carp fish in the private and community ponds in a people participatory mode, on Saturday.

“Nutrition deficiency diseases such as goitre, anaemia and calcium deficiency are visible among tribals on that hill and it could be brought down by adding fish as part of their diet,” Principal Investigator of the IDRC Alleviation of Poverty and Malnutrition Project of the MSSRF Mr. Siddick Abubacker told The Hindu .

The Red list of threatened species, prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has listed 132 species of plants and animals as Critically Endangered, the most threatened category, from India.

Plants seemed to be the most threatened life form with 60 species being listed as Critically Endangered and 141 as Endangered. The Critically Endangered list included 18 species of amphibians, 14 fishes and 10 mammals.

Researchers have discovered a new species of badid fish ‘Dario urops' from the Barapole tributary of the Valapattanam river in the Western Ghats.

A research team consisting of Ralf Britz from the Natural History Museum, London; Anvar Ali from the Conservation Research Group at St. Albert's College, Kochi; and Siby Philip from the University of Porto, Portugal; found the species from an unnamed steam which connects the Barapole tributary in southern Karnataka.

PANJIM: The National Fish-workers Forum has hit out against diesel subsidies being given to large fishing vessels such as bottom trawling vessels, saying that a subsidy meant for the traditional co

SHILLONG: To control the spread of malaria the State Government proposes to introduce larvivorous fishes popularly known as ‘mosquito fishes’ in a big way. Meghalaya continues to have high incidence of malaria especially in Garo Hills and parts of Khasi Jaintia Hills.

“We will conduct a detailed study on the efficacy of larvivorous fishes to control the spread of malaria since these fish feed on mosquito larvae. If this option proves effective in controlling the spread of malaria then it would provide the Government with an alternative to control the disease,

Not only is the mackerel size getting smaller but trawlers are catching mackerel with eggs which means there is no chance for them to reproduce. Rejuvenation of fish is not happening as trawlers fish even during the breeding season.”

In the southern states, large quantities of juveniles fishes are being caught and discarded since they have no commercial value. The economic loss of the juvenile fish by a single trawler in Kerala coast has been estimated at `28 lakhs.