Sustainable Development of Inland Capture and Culture Fisheries: A Study in Indian Context

Fishery serves multiple socio-economic and environmental purposes.In India West Bengal occupies the topmost position in contributing to inland production.Burdwan district is the biggest one in the state and marked by the existence of diverse environmental and productive conditions of fishery ponds because of their dispersed locations in both industrial and agricultural belt.Despite differing locational features of sample ponds,the fishermen associated with the PFCS/FPG are usually poor, semi-literate,live in poor housing and hardly have in-house toilet.Inadequate infrastructural facility,erratic supply of quality seed,high input cost,improper marketing channel, absence of proper storage facility,lack of species enhancement hamper steady attainment of productivity,profitability and marketing efficiency.Again often sustainability issue linked to environmental quality of fish pond and fish health are traded off with higher profit.Often production far below MSY level is observed due to lack of adequate fund and skilled management.Environmental and economic parameters of ponds should be properly addressed to for sustainable management of fishery ponds.