Fishing in India - History

History

Fishing and aquaculture in India has a long history. Kautilya's Arthashastra (321–300 B.C.) and King Someswara's Manasottara (1127 A.D.) each refer to fish culture. For centuries, India has had a traditional practice of fish culture in small ponds in Eastern India. Significant advances in productivity were made in the state of West Bengal in the early nineteenth century with the controlled breeding of carp in Bundhs (tanks or impoundments where river conditions are simulated). Fish culture received notable attention in Tamil Nadu (formerly the state of Madras) as early as 1911, subsequently, states such as West Bengal, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh initiated fish culture through the establishment of Fisheries Departments. In 2006, Indian central government initiated a dedicated organization focussed on fisheries, under its Ministry of Agriculture.

Brackishwater farming in India is also an age-old system confined mainly to the Bheries (manmade impoundments in coastal wetlands) of West Bengal and pokkali (salt resistant deepwater paddy) fields along the Kerala coast. With no additional knowledge and technology input, except that of trapping the naturally bred juvenile fish and shrimp seed, these systems have been sustaining production levels of between 500 and 750 kg/ha/year with shrimp contributing 20 to 25 percent of the total Indian production.

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