Emerging of viral outbreaks in the shrimp : Status of Fisheries Development in Mahabubnagar District, Telangana

Status of Fisheries Development in Mahabubnagar District, Telangana

Dr B. Laxmappa, Fisheries Development Officer, Mahabubnagar - 509001.

Telangana. India. e-mail : laxmappaboini@gmail.com

P. Mahipal, Asst. Director of Fisheries, Mahabubnaga r-509001.

Telangana. India. e-mail : adfisheries2012@gmail.com

Dr B.Laxmappa P. Mahipal

Introduction

Mahabubnagar is the largest district in Telangana state of India in terms of the spread, with geographical area of 18,432 sq. kms and about 100 kms away from Hydreabad city. This district is well known for its greater percent of rural population and also migration. Mahabubnagar district consists of 1553 Revenue Villages, 64 Mandals and 5 Revenue Divisions. The river Krishna with its tributaries Bheema and Tungabhadra enters in to Telangana in Mahabubnagar district. The district is located at 16°73' N and 77°98' E and about 100 km distance from the state capital of Hyderabad (Fig.1). The district population was 40, 42,191 as per 2011cences.

Water resources

Irrigational tanks, reservoirs, rivers and backwaters are the important water resources for inland fish production in Mahabubnagar district. The Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers flows from the district in addition to many fish culture ponds, tanks, reservoirs and about 26000 ha Srisailam Backwaters which are all potential resources for fisheries in the district (Table:1).

Many new reservoirs are also constructed in the district from 1995 onwards. Most of the reservoirs are of great fisheries potential in addition to their fundamental functions such as irrigation, flood control, drinking water and power generation in some reservoirs. There is a wide scope for development of reservoirs fisheries in the district.

Present status

There are about 600 irrigational tanks with above 100 acre ayacut area, its water spread area ranging from 20 ha to 200 ha and more than 1500 below 100 acre ayacut area, its water spread area ranging from 5 ha to 20 ha are present in the district. There are 15 above 100 ha water spread area reservoirs also exist in the district and another 6 reservoirs are under construction. PJP is a major multipurpose reservoir constructed on river Krishna in the year 1996. This project is the main water source for the many old and newly constructed reservoirs in the district. In Mahabunagar small, medium and large reservoirs exist which falls in various divisions (Table: 3). Among the five revenue divisions Gadwal is the rich source for reservoir fisheries. These reservoirs are providing livelihood to more than 15000 fisher families directly and indirectly in the district.

Production trends

The source of freshwater fish production is capture and culture. About 60-70 per cent fish production comes from captures fisheries and rest from aquaculture in the district. The fish production level has been increased from 9775 tonnes in 2005-06 to 31063 tonnes in 2012-13 (Table:2 & Fig. 2). In medium reservoirs the average fish production rate is about 180 kg/ha/yr. Since last decade the production levels are increased significantly in many tanks and reservoirs in the district. This is due to stocking of fingerlings size carps seed in the tanks and reservoirs and controlling of poaching. Still there is no proper utilization of newly constructed reservoirs for fishery growth due to its bottom beds are full of thorny bushes, trees, stumps and rocks besides insufficient water storage in these reservoirs.

In some irrigational tanks and reservoirs particularly Koilsagar, Ramanpad and Chandrasagar the fishermen is also stocking wild freshwater prawn seed along with carp fish seed in Mahabubnagar district and getting good production. The prawn production is encouraging and successful which is really an innovative and additional income oriented aspect to the fisherman from the reservoirs in the district.

Opportunities

Qualitative and quantitative seed stocking is the key to success in culture based tanks and reservoirs. Most of the instances of low yield from reservoirs in India can be attributed to non-compliance of stocking size and numbers. Selection of the right management practice holds the key for success. Enforcing appropriate guidelines for stocking and other management protocols strict monitoring of stocking and harvesting schedules and above all prevention of poaching in successful implementation of the process. Most of the irrigational tanks are silted and also infested with Ipomoea weed plants which lead to low yield in such tanks. Now the government is planned to restore all the tanks in the Telangana state for optimum utilization. This is the good opportunity to increase the fish production from the tanks in the district.

Providing infrastructure and credit support for marketing and post harvest in tanks and reservoir fishery. Organization of trainings to stake holders for upgrading their knowledge on reservoir fishery and ecological management. Viable schemes for financial assistance to fishers depending up on reservoir fishery as there economic sustenance. NFDB is the national institute which is ideal source for financial support for the purpose. Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) is established at district level as an autonomous institution is also providing financial support for up gradation of skills through trainings, demonstrations, interactions with scientists, exposure visits etc. regarding reservoir fishery. There is a tremendous scope to enhance existing productivity from tanks and reservoirs which in turn provides ample opportunities for sustainable livelihood to more number of fisher folk through tanks and reservoirs in the district.

Conclusions

The improved fishery in tanks and reservoirs should also include interventions that aim at increasing the capacity fisher folk communities in low cost technologies and curtail post harvest loses. The fisheries productivity can be increased through a number of interventions combining better harvest strategies carefully adapted stock enhancement. Sound marketing system will fetch higher incomes and enthuse the fishermen to increase the catches. In coming years reservoirs will become potential resources for employments generation in the district.

References

1. Handbook of Fisheries and Aquaculture, 2011. Published by ICAR, New Delhi.

2. Laxmappa B, Satya Parameswar K, Srinivas Reddy B., 2013. Status of Freshwater Prawn Farming in Ramanpad Reservoir in Mahabubnagar district of A.P., India. Fishing Chimes 33(7): 29-31.

3. Laxmappa B, Jithender Kumar Naik S & Vamshi S. 2014: Augmentation of fish and prawn production from Koilsagar reservoir of Mahabubnagar: A success story. International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies; 2(1): 197-206.

Table 1: Water resources in the district

Water Source	Area
Irrigation tanks	45000 ha
Reservoirs	16700 ha
Back waters	26000 ha
Rivers	160 Kms
Aquaculture ponds	680 ha

Table 2: Fish production trends in the district

Year	Fish Production (in tonnes)
2005-06	9775
2006-07	15170
2007-08	15344
2008-09	20261
2009-10	25445
2010-11	26990
2011-12	28829
2012-13	31063

Table.3: Reservoirs of > 100 ha water spread area (WSA) particulars

Sl.No	Name of the Reservoir	Division	Total WSA in ha	Year of Construction	Purpose
1	Koilsagar Project	Narayanapet	1036	1955	Irrigation + drinking water from 2010
2	Sarala sagar Project	Wanaparthy	620	1959	Irrigation
3	Chandrasagar Project	Nagarkurnool	530	1978	Irrigation
4	Ramanpadu Project	Wanaparthy	305	1980	Irrigation + drinking water from 2002
5	Priyadarshini Jurala Project (PJP)	Gadwal	6770	1996	Irrigation + Power generation
6	KLI Reservoir	Gadwal	320	2000	Irrigation + drinking water from 2005
7	Gopaldinne Reservoir	Wanaparthy	125	2002	Irrigation
8	Yellur Reservoir	Nagarkurnool	215	2011	Irrigation
9	Singotam Reservoir	Wanaparthy	700	2012	Irrigation
10	Guddamdoddi Reservoir	Gadwal	480	2012	Irrigation
11	Bhoothpur Reservoir	Narayanapet	520	2012	Irrigation
12	Sangambanda Reservoir	Narayanapet	634	2012	Irrigation
13	Thatikunta Reservoir	Gadwal	766	2012	Irrigation
14	Ryalampad Reservoir	Gadwal	1161	2012	Irrigation
15	Rangasamudram Reservoir	Wanaparthy	760	2013	Irrigation
16	Nagardoddi Reservoir	Gadwal	410	Under construction	Irrigation
17	Sangala Reservoir	Gadwal	412	Under construction	Irrigation
18	Mahatma Gandhi Reservoir (Jonnalaboguda)	Nagarkurnool	105	Under construction	Irrigation
19	Gudipally Reservoir	Nagarkurnool	140	Under construction	Irrigation
20	Chinnonipally Reservoir	Gadwal	310	Under construction	Irrigation
21	Muchonipally Reservoir	Gadwal	380	Under construction	Irrigation