Homeless Hilsa | Burning Issues | PDF Download

Issue

• Plan to ‘unlock’ Farakka for hilsa recalls old debate on fish passes
• Like many other debates in gastronomy, the one on the hilsa, too, is about the seamlessness of legend and myth, ecology, history, and culture.
• The ocean fish that swims against the tide to spawn in rivers is moving away from Bangladesh
• Among the longstanding gastronomy debates in the subcontinent is the one on the relative merits of the hilsa that comes from the Padma river in Bangladesh versus the variety that is found in the Ganga in India.
• Annual journey of the fish

The hilsa’s journey

• Anadromous fish
• A large part of the shoal travels upstream in the Padma and the Ganga — some are known to move towards the Godavari, and there are records of hilsa migration to the Cauvery.
• Historical records also show that until the 1970s, the hilsa would swim the Ganga upstream to Allahabad — and even to Agra.
• The Farakka Barrage, which became operational on the Ganga in 1975, disrupted the westward movement of the hilsa. The barrage had a navigation lock thatstopped the fish from swimming upstream beyond Farakka. In Buxar on the border of Bihar and UP, the last recorded catch of the hilsa was made 32 years ago

Fishway experiments

• • Earlier , the government unveiled a project to facilitate the movement of the hilsa to its spawning grounds of yore. The navigation lock at Farakka will be redesigned at a cost of Rs 360 crore to create a fish pass for the hilsa. A passage for Hilsa Fish
  • Fish pass/Fish way is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate natural fish migration.
  • Most fishways enable fish to pass around the barriers by swimming into the waters on the other side.

• Under Jal Marg Vikas Pariyojana, a fish pass has been envisaged for the free movement of Hilsa at Farakka Navigation Lock.
• After the construction of Farakka Navigation Lock in 1976, movement of Hilsa, which once reached up to Prayagraj also, was restricted up to Farakka only.
• Based on research and breeding season of Hilsa Fish, the operation of navigational lock will be regulated to facilitate Hilsa movement from Hoogly-Bhagirathi-River system to the upstream in river Ganga and vice-versa. Significance of Hilsa fish: It has a significant cultural importance in West Bengal, besides being the national fish of Bangladesh. This Hilsa migration will lead to increase in its production in the region. Simultaneously, this will increase the river biodiversity and boost the economy of local fishermen. Navigation lock: Navigational lock is a device that is used for raising and lowering boats and ships between stretches of water of different levels on river and other waterways. No clear path yet
• A 2013 study led by the American ecologist J Jed Brown noted that “state-of-the-art fish passage facilities have been unsuccessful. Some migratory species, such as sturgeons, do not pass through at all. But even the species that do make it through do so in numbers far less than stated targets

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