Telangana, a new state in India, funds more accurate fisheries census

India’s Telangana state has signed an agreement to have the Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI) study the state’s fish production.

CIFRI and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will undertake the study in 2018. Government officials hope the study will help the state calculate the exact fish production and revenues from fish production for 2018, Telangana Today reported.

Fish production in the state has been decreasing for the past few years. It was estimated to be 195,000 metric tons (MT) in 2016-17, as compared to 230,000 MT registered in 2015-16, 260,000 MT in 2014-15 and 240,000 MT in 2013-14.

However, government officials are skeptical of the previously reported figures. A senior official in the Fisheries Department told the newspaper the government lacked a foolproof method for conducting a fish census, and that data from before 2014, when Telangana was created (it previously was a part of Andhra Pradesh state) was difficult to parse.

The official told the newspaper he believed with better methods, the new survey will show that fish production in 2017-18 will be in excess 280,000 metric tons this year, worth an estimated INR 3 billion (USD 39 million, EUR 46 million). 

The survey is part of a larger investment into fisheries and aquaculture in Telengana. In 2018, Telangana’s government had also allocated INR 10 billion (USD 156 million, EUR 130 million) for integrated fisheries development project, including supplying fish seedlings free of cost. As of 10 December, 2017, the state has released 510 million fish fingerlings, as compared to 270 million fish fingerlings released last year. It has also released 15 million shrimp larvae into six reservoirs to promote prawn production on a pilot basis.

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