Food and Civil Supplies Minister Ramesh Dhawala, who also holds the portfolio of Fisheries, said here today that 8045 metric tonne fish costing Rs. 50.55 crore had been produced during year 2011-12 which had fetched revenue of Rs. 2.15 crore to the State exchequer. He said that about 10,000 families were earning their livelihood from fisheries sector. He said that State Government was going to launch Rs. 6.88 crore ‘Cage Fish Culture Scheme’ to increase the fish production.
The Minister said that ban on fishing had been lifted from 16th August, 2012 this year and 37 metric tonne fish was produced in a single day. He said that 100.59 lakh fish seeds had been stored in different reservoirs in the State during last year and a target of 150 lakh fish seeds had been fixed for this year
Dhawala said that Stare Government was committed for the welfare of the families connected with fisheries avocation. He said that fishing instruments costing Rs. 54 lakh had made available to such families.
The Minister said that the State Government was promoting the production of trout fish and was providing grant in aid for establishing Trout Fish Production units to the interested persons. He said that Rs. 47 lakh grant in aid was being made available to such persons. He said that Himachal Pradesh was the only State in the country where the production of trout fish was being done in the private sector successfully. He said that 370 raceways had been established through 160 trout fish producers till now and Rs. 50 lakh had been made available to the department for constructing 100 additional raceways.
