Experts in MP call for action plan to conserve state fish Mahseer

Principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) Jitendra Agrawal on Friday called for a concrete action plan with a dedicated department and budgetary provision for conservation of Mahseer, the state fish.

Principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) Jitendra Agrawal on Friday called for a concrete action plan with a dedicated department and budgetary provision for conservation of Mahseer, the state fish.

Mahseer, declared as the state fish in 2011, was found extensively in the Narmada river and used to constitute 36% of the catch. It has come down to just 3%.

Experts had attributed the fall in numbers to increase in dams that have stopped the flow of water and created huge lakes in form of backwater. In the process, it destroyed the habitat of Mahseer as stagnant water is not favourable for breeding of the fish..

On the first day of three-day conference on conservation of Mahseer, Agrawal said 25,000-odd cooperatives of the fishermen should be roped in to gauge the magnitude of the problem.

“We have to find out whether the percentage of Mahseer has come down because of the fall in the number of other fish variety or it was being ousted from the traditional breeding places by other fish varieties,” Agrawal said at the conference organised by the School of Biotechnology Devi Ahilya University on the Khandwa Road campus.

Additional principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Pankaj Shrivastava suggested the concept of ‘catch and click’ to create awareness.

The forest department in Barwaha is breeding Mahseer in a pond with artificial environment suitable for the fish.

Postal department director (Indore circle) Preeti Agrawal released a special cover on Mahseer and hoped that it would spread the message of the fish conservation across the country.