SHILLONG: Executive Member (EM) in-charge of Fisheries department in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), Mitchell Wankhar said that he intends to try out the Andhra Pradesh model for fish production.
He sounded optimistic and told reporters, “The future is bright for fish production if the fish farmers take it seriously”.
He said that the state is facing a problem in production of fishes in the face of high consumption by the people. He assumed that the Khasi-Jaintia consumption of fish is about 20-25 tons per day.
Asked, if the Andhra Pradesh model is too ambitious, he said, “There are many things to be done and this is only an experiment and will see whether it works or not”.
He said that the council has approached the Tribal Affairs Ministry recently to get funds for the Fisheries Department.
As for plans to improve the fish ponds and fish production at Lailad, Ri Bhoi, which belongs to the council, Wankhar said that the department of Fisheries will start checking the weight of the fishes every month. He informed that there are four ponds and fishes are reared in three ponds. At Lailad, he said that there is a need for a staff quarter, godown, life jacket, etc.
Wankhar informed that 70-75 per cent of the fishes are imported from Andhra Pradesh while 20-25 per cent is bought from Assam and the local production is not sufficient.
Stating that the state government gets funds from National Fisheries Development Board, he said that the council is also looking for funds to improve fish production within its areas and also intends to give training to fish farmers so that they can earn livelihood from fish production.
