THE FLOOD PLAIN WETLAND AND COLD-WATER FISHERIES

1. THE FLOOD PLAIN WETLAND AND COLD-
WATER FISHERIES OF INDIA

2. WHAT IS FLOODPLAIN WETLAND?
• The area of land which falls in the river valley and
got flooded periodically are known as floodplain
wetland
• The floodplain wetlands are either permanent or
temporary water bodies associated with rivers.
• Wetlands are among the world’s most productive
environments.
• Floodplain wetlands form an important fishery
resource in Assam, West Bengal, Bihar.

3. DISTRIBUTION OF WETLAND IN INDIA
• India has a wealth of wetland ecosystems
distributed in different geographical regions.
• According to Ministry of Environments and Forest,
India has totally 67,429 wetland covering an area of
about 4.1 million hectares.
• Wetlands in India account for 18.4% of the
country’s geographical area of which 70% is under
paddy cultivation.

4. CLASSIFICATION OF FLOODPLAIN WETLAND
• The floodplain wetland include low lying water bodies of diverse origin, size,
shape, depth and ecological characteristics.

5. CLASSIFICATION BASED ON MORPHOLOGY
• 1. Ox-bow Lakes: these are cut of portion of river meanders.
• 2. Lake like wetland: these are wide and shallow with irregular contours.
• 3. Tectonic depressions: These kind of wetland forms by the tectonic activities.
• 4. Meteorite Lake: these are created by the impact of meteorite on earth.

6. CLASSIFICATION BASED ON WATER RETENTIVITY
• 1. Seasonal beels: These are shallow floodplain wetlands, which periodically get
inundated by monsoon rains and floods but completely dry up during summer
months.
• 2. Perennial beels: These are deeper and permanent beels, which retain water
round the year.

7. CLASSIFICATION BASED ON DEPTH
• 1. Shallow beels: Beels which has a maximum depth of 5 meters are called
Shallow beel.
• 2. Medium beels: Beels which has a depth ranging from 5-10 meters are called
Medium beel.
• 3. Deep beels: Beels which has a maximum depth of over 10 meters are called
Deep beel.

8. CLASSIFICATION BASED ON RIVERINE
CONNECTION
1. Open beels: These beels retain continuity with parent river either for the whole
year or at least during the rainy seasons. Such beels exchange water as well as
fish fauna with parent river.
2. Closed beels: These beels are completely cut off from the nearby river and
receive water mostly from their catchment area following monsoon rains or
during high flood.

9. FISH DIVERSITY IN WETLANDS
• Floodplain wetland in India have large number of fish species, a total of 85 fish species
belongs to 33 families have been reported in Indian wetland. The major fish species
divided broadly into
 Major carps
 Minor carps
 Catfish
 Snakehead
 Featherback
 Loach
 Perch
 eels

10. FISH YEILD POTENTIAL IN FLOODPLAIN WETLAND
• The wetlands are serving the need for fish from sustenance level to high intensity
with varying management regimes. In the past years the average fish yield
realized from these wetlands was very low as 50 kg ha−1 yr−1 against the annual
potential of 2000 kg ha−1 yr−1. The fish yield from these resources has enhanced
through adoption of culture based fisheries and now the average yield has
increased to 400 kg ha−1 yr−1.

11. FISHERIES MANAGEMENT OF
FLOODPLAIN WETLANDS

12. CAPTURE FISHERY FOR OPEN WETLANDS
• Floodplain wetlands retaining their riverine connection for a reasonably long
period of time are relatively free from weeds. The management strategy can be
that of capture fisheries. The approach is to allow natural fish recruitment by
conserving and protecting the brooders and juveniles. This involves identification
and protection of breeding grounds, brood stock and juveniles; allowing free
migration of brooders and juveniles from wetland to river and vice versa.

13. CULTURE-BASED FISHERY FOR CLOSED
WETLANDS
• Closed floodplain wetlands, in majority of the cases, are characterized by weed
infestation and derelict nature, constraining optimization of fish yield from these
water bodies. Management of completely closed wetlands or those with a very
brief period of connection with the rivers is more like that of culture-based
fisheries of small reservoirs. The basic strategy for fish yield enhancement here is
stocking and recapture. The growth of fishes in these water bodies will be faster
compared to that of reservoirs due to availability of huge reserve of food niches.

14. CAPTURE AND CULTURE-BASED FISHERIES
• There are management systems, which combine the norms of capture and culture
based fisheries. In this system, the marginal areas of wetlands are cordoned off
for culture fishery either in ponds or in pens and the central portion is left for
capture fisheries. Under this system, a series of small enclosures are created
along the periphery of the lake, which is leased out to entrepreneurs for fish
farming. Some of these enclosures serve as nurseries to rear the seed for both
aquaculture and stocking in the wetland. When culture based fishery is practiced,
the connecting channel is blocked using wire mesh to prevent the stocked fishes
from escaping and the water inflow and out flow is regulated through a sluice
installed at the mouth of the channel.

15. INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT
• The integration plan envisages developing agriculture and aquaculture in one
portion, leaving the other portion for capture and culture based fisheries.
• A dike can separate the two segments of the wetland while the water flow to
agriculture and aquaculture areas in each segment can be regulated through
canals. The central marshy portion can be left intact for harboring the birds that
frequent the area.

16. COLDWATER FISHERIES OF INDIA
• Coldwater fisheries occupy an important place in fisheries sector of India. The
country is bestowed with vast and varied cold water/hill fishery resources which
are spread over the Himalayan and peninsular regions as upland rivers,
streams, high and low altitude natural lakes and reservoir.

17. COMMERCIALLY IMPORTANT COLDWATER FISH
SPECIES
• There are several indigenous and exotic coldwater fishes which are commercially
important in India.

18. MAHSEER
• It is characterized by head shorter than
the depth of the body. It attains a
length of 1.5 m and occurs along the
foot hills of Himalayas from Kashmir to
Assam and in the river Narmada and
Tapti. It is insectivorous in its juvenile
stage but becomes herbivorous when
adult. It has a prolonged breeding
season from July to December.
Scientific name: Tor tor

19. GOLDEN MAHSEER
• It is commonly called as golden
or common Himalayan Mahaseer.
It has head longer than the
depth of the body. It occurs in
Himalayas from Kashmir to
Darjeeling hills. This fish breeds
thrice in a year, firstly during
winter months (January to
February), subsequently in
summer (May –June ) and lastly
in August – September.
Scientific name: Tor putitora

20. DECCAN MAHSEER
• It is characterized by its head
being as long as the depth of the
body. It is found in Orissa and
throughout peninsular India. It
attains a length of about 1.3 m.
Scientific name: Tor khudree

21. COPPER MAHSEER
• It is commonly known as copper or
chocolate Mahaseer. It has an oblong
and compressed body with an
obtusely rounded and prominent
mouth. These are mainly distributed
Upper India, Assam and Cauvery river
inTamil Nadu. It attains a length over
60 cm.
Scientific name: Neolissochilus
hexagonolepis

22. SNOW TROUT:
• These are found in snow fed
streams of Assam, estern
Himalayas, Sikkim, Nepal,
Kashmir. It lives in mountain
rivers among rocks, feeding on
algae, aquatic plants and
detritus, they breed in April and
May.
Scientific name: Schizothorax richardsonii

23. RAINBOW TROUT
• It is a native of North American Pacific
water and was imported to India in1907.
Presently, these are one of the most
successful trout of Indian waters for
cultural purpose because these adapt
easily in comparison to the brown trout’s.
The body is elongate, head short and
mouth comparatively small. The colour of
the body is variable, depending on
spawning season and environment. It is
chiefly a river fish but is cultivated in
confined water as well.
Scientific name: Oncorhynchus mykiss

24. BROWN TROUT
• It is a native of the mountains water of
central and Western Europe. This fish was the
first one reproduced and reared artificially in
India. Although it was introduced to
mountain waters of all hills, it could establish
itself only in the streams and farms at
Kashmir and in river beas in Punjab. It feeds
upon the crustaceans and large living prey at
the bottom. It attains a maximum length
about 46.5 cm, depending upon the natural
food availability. During breeding seasons,
the fish swims up streams to spawn on
gravel bedded shallows of fast current water.
Scientific name: Salmo trutta

25. COMMON CARP
• This fish has been well cultured
in Kashmir and in the north-
eastern region. The culture is
being successfully done by
induced breeding methods.
Scientific name: Cyprinus carpio

26. CAPTURE BASED COLDWATER FISHERY
• Capture based fisheries are present in the larger lakes and the streams of
Himalaya and north east regions. The production is decreasing because of
increasing pollution and overfishing.

27. CULTURE BASED COLDWATER FISHERY
• The present exploitation of fishery resources in upland Himalayan
regions comes mainly from capture fisheries, though fish production through
culture practices is gaining momentum. At present the total fish production from
upland areas forms about 2 % of total inland fish production of India, which
forms a very small contribution to the total fish production
• To enhance the fish production, these hill states endowed with
natural lakes and reservoirs could be better utilized under culture based
capture fisheries programme. Initiatives for open water cage culture in
Himalayan lakes have also been taken up by DCFR for the stock
enhancement as well.

28. • The culture-based fisheries are mainly present in small lakes, pond and tanks.
• Mahseer, trout and common carp are mainly cultured here. The trout culture
especially rainbow trout is more popular and practiced more among the other
fish cultures.

29. FISH BASED TOURISM
• 1. Sport fishing/angling: Angling or sport fishing is classified under
ecotourism as it
has minimum adverse impact on the environment and also helps in
retaining the
beautiful natural environment, help to preserve and protect the river system
and
its surroundings, helps in the growth of fisheries resources through
protection and
preservation for its future scope and aspiration of better fishing.
Game and sport fishing, is one of the most fascinating outdoor physical
activities,
which satisfies diverse tastes and pursuits. It is one of the major sources of
recreation

30. • 2. Fish Watching: Like bird watching, fish watching also has scope for its
expansion.
Moving shoals of different size, colour and shaped fishes always provide
joy to the
visitors particularly to children. Many of the religiously protected water bodies in
the
hills like Mattan in Jammu & Kashmir, Renuka lake in Himachal Pradesh;
river
stretch of Ganga at Haridwar and Rishikesh, Gomati river at Baijnath,
Naldamayantital
in Uttarakhand are some examples of fish watching spots, which attracts
thousands
of tourists.

31. THANK YOU