26 March 2012 Aquaculture status and potential in the northeastern region of India Debtanu Barman*1, Sagar C. Mandal2 and Vikash Kumar3 Aquaculture is developing quickly in most of northeastern India because of high demand for fish in the region. However, this growth is not uniform because of the different food consumption habits of the people, though all states in the region have excellent potential for aquaculture. Among these, Assam, Manipur and Tripura have most of the population and a tradition of consuming fish. The literacy rate in most of the northeastern states is high as compared to the rest of the country and in particular those states where fish is not a commonly consumed item. With increasing evidence demonstrating the health benefits of eating fish and the ill effects of eating red meat, it is likely that the literate people in other parts of northeastern India will also gradually increase intake of fish. Hence, it is important that policymakers recognize the future demand for fish and make appropriate plans to meet the expected demand. Northeastern states also have enormous water resources that are appropriate for aquaculture. High rainfall in the region provides an additional opportunity to develop mechanisms to collect water during the rainy season and store it for use in aquaculture throughout the year. Data available on the various types of aquatic resources in the region is presented in Table 1. All states in the region have good riverine resources and vast areas of paddy fields, yet to be utilized intensively for aquaculture purposes. Among the types of reTable 1. Fishery resources of Northeast India (values in parentheses indicate area yet to be developed) States River (km) Reservoirs (ha) Beel, Lake Ponds/Mini Paddy fields* Forest & Swamps (ha) barrages (ha) (ha) fisheries Arunachal 2,000 (160) NA 2,500 250 (1,250) 12000 -- Pradesh Assam 5,050 10,730 100,000 22,500 248980 5017 Manipur 2,000 100 (40,000) 40150 5,000 (4,500) 15790 -- Meghalaya 5,600 8,430 375 500 (1,900) 15790 -- Mizoram 1,700 32 NA 1,795 6810 -- Nagaland 1,600 (27,100) 215 500 (1,500) 14500 -- Sikkim 900 1,20,000 -- 450 -- Tripura 1,200 4,500 (1500) 3,000 10,264 (3,136) 25780 -- Northeast 20,050 1,43,792 (68,760) 500 40,809 (12,286) 340100 NA *10% of the total paddy cultivation area is taken as low lying potential for paddy cum fish culture Fig. 1. Wood ash can be used as a liming material to increase pH. sources that have been used so far for aquaculture are ponds and mini barrages. Even these have not been harnessed to optimum potential to obtain the maximum yield. In Table 2, a summary of total fish production that has been obtained from capture fisheries and aquaculture for the five year period from 1999-2000 to 2003-2004 is presented based on
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