Himachal Pradesh Lifts Fishing Ban: Fish Stocks Rebound

Bilaspur (HP), Aug 18 (PTI) Fishermen have started their routine activities on a large scale in the state's rivers from Friday after the ban on fishing was lifted, a spokesman of the Department of Fisheries said on Sunday.

Over 20,000 people are engaged in fishing in the reservoirs, rivers and streams of Himachal Pradesh and their tributaries.

At present, more than 6,000 fishermen are engaged in fishing activities in the five reservoirs of the state, namely Gobind Sagar, Pong Dam, Chamera, Koldam and Ranjit Sagar, with an area of 43,785 hectares.

Normally, the state Fisheries Department imposes a two-month complete ban on fishing during this period every year, as most of the important fish species reproduce naturally during this time.

This year also, the ban was implemented from June 16 till August 15, and during this period, a total of 421 cases of illegal fishing were reported.

The ban helped in producing 31.8677 metric tonnes of fish from the reservoirs of the state, which included 15.2183 metric tonnes from Gobind Sagar reservoir, 0.066 metric tonnes from Kol Dam, 16.4014 metric tonnes from Pong reservoir and 0.182 metric tons from Chamera and Ranjit Sagar.