Post News Network
Puri: Illegal supply of fish seedlings from several river mouths here to a few neighbouring states has resulted in low fish production in the district.
The illegal business is being run for last couple of years by people from Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal right under the nose of the fishery department, according to sources.
The Devi, Kushabhadra, Prachi and Kadua river mouths in the district here are quite famous for seedlings of several indigenous varieties of fish, including Khainga, Khurant, Bhekti and prawn, according to sources. However, some people used to make a lot of money through the illegal supply of fish seedlings from these river mouths to neighbouring states.
The population of freshwater fish in the district has dropped in recent years because of this illegal supply of seedlings, said sources. This has also adversely affected the livelihoods of hundreds of fisherfolk in the district, they said.
A few fishermen of Ramchandi area recently lodged a complaint with the district fisheries officer Biraja Dwivedy regarding the illegal supply of fish seedlings. Dwivedy has sought a report on this from the president and secretary of the Ramchandi fishermen’s cooperative society, sources said.
Dwivedy said the department will take action against the fish mafia after receiving the report from the Ramchandi society.
“A few people are illegally collecting and supplying fish seedlings from the river mouths of the district here. The illegal business has affected the livelihoods of hundreds of fisherfolk in Ramchandi, Astarang and Chilika areas. We have raised the issue with the state fisheries department,” said Reeta Jayshankar, a scientist at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) here.
“We have tightened patrolling in the Devi and Prachi river mouth after receiving a complaint regarding illegal fish seedling collection,” marine fisheries department official DK Behera said.
