Tag: waterbodies

Fisheries sector policies of the Bengal Govt benefiting fishermen

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The State Government has created several policies for the development of the fisheries sector. The important ones are given below.

West Bengal Fisheries Investment Policy 2015:For attracting substantial investments in the fisheries sector, the Government has promulgated the West Bengal Fisheries Investment Policy 2015. From FY 2015-17 till now, 30 projects have been initiated at an investment (by both private and Government players) of Rs 339.35 crore. During the Bengal Global Business Summit 2018, 19 memorandums of understanding (MoU) worth Rs 760.3 crore were signed.

Amendment of method of settlement of Government waterbodies:The chapter dedicated to Government water bodies in the West Bengal Land & Land Reforms Manual was amended by the State Government with the intention of infusing better competitiveness and adoption of scientific methods of pisciculture and thereby increasing the production of fish. This step has boosted rural employment generation and optimum use of Government fisheries as a resource by giving priority in the tendering process to functional fishermen’s cooperative societies, fish production groups and self-help groups (SHG).

Training and extension:The number of fishermen who have received training has gone up from 6,170 in 2010-11 to 16,394 in 2017-18. Awareness camps in the form of Krishi Mela, Wetland Day, Fish Farmers’ Day, etc., are being regularly organised.

 

Environment Department: Working towards a more livable future

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The scope of work of the Environment Department is very wide, exhaustive and challenging. The wings of the department work in close coordination to fulfil the commitment of the Bengal Government towards its people for a clean and more livable environment – be it in terms of air, water, noise or several other aspects.

For effective control of pollution, a number of steps, measures and policies have been initiated by the Environment Department which include stringent regulations, development and periodical revision of environment standards, control of vehicular pollution, control of air and water pollution, abatement and prevention of noise pollution, revisiting and revision of the list of critically polluted areas and their environment improvement plans, etc.

The department has been funding research projects through grants-in-aid both to its parastatals like West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB), West Bengal Biodiversity Board (WBBB), East Kolkata Wetlands Management Authority (EKWMA) and Institute of Environmental Studies and Wetland Management (IES&WM), and also to some research institutions.

Some of the salient points regarding the working of the Environment Department:

  • WBPCB is constantly monitoring and taking suitable measures for improving air quality and reducing water body pollution.
  • An online system of WBPCB’s consent administration has been developed for transparency. All monitoring data can now be accessed from the board’s website. The consent administration has also been simplified.
  • The ‘consent to operate’ periods have been increased: from two years to five years for Red Category Industries, from three years to five years for Orange Category Industries and from five years to seven years for Green Category Industries. A new White Category has been introduced which only requires the relevant industries to give information to the WBPCB and is exempt from ‘consent’ administration.
  • The State Action Plan for climate change is being amended to strengthen the plan, introduce mitigation measures in addition to adaptation measures and bring it in line with the latest developments in various fields.
  • Actions on conservation of biodiversity, preparing a comprehensive register and promoting conservation have been accelerated.
  • A lot of work has been done for restoration and beautification of many waterbodies.
  • More emphasis has been laid on organising awareness activities to spread environment education among all sections of society and mobilising people’s participation for preservation and conservation of environment.

Source: Departmental Budget

Bengal to examine quality, content of waterbodies using satellite images

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To augment fish cultivation in various waterbodies across West Bengal, the state fisheries department has decided to examine the quality and contents in water by using satellite images.

For this, the State Fisheries Department will procure most advanced satellite images through which senior officials of the department will be able to assess the condition of various water bodies across the state. After going through the satellite images, the senior officials of the department sitting at their offices will get to know about quality of water in each water body across the state.

West Bengal is the first state to come up with this unique idea so that the people involved in pisciculture can have technical assistance from the government. It will also give them a detailed idea on how to improve the quality of water and this will increase the production in fishes. If the project is a success, it can be model projects for the other states as well.

Experts also feel that examining water quality is an important contributing factor in the production of fishes. The quality of water always determines the increase in the production of fishes. Various parameters such as dissolved oxygen content in water, chlorophyll, water turbidity, water depth plays an important role in the development of pisciculture in the state.

The technique will immensely benefit the people involved in pisciculture. Many of these people often incur losses after they cultivate fingerlings in the ponds without the examining the water quality. Many people in the villages depend on bank loans and later, they miserably fail to repay the loans if the fish cultivation was not good.

Considering the various aspects, the state fisheries department will examine the quality of water of the ponds or any other water bodies so that the farmers will get some guidelines from the department before investing money into the fish cultivation business. After conducting a thorough research, the department has decided to use satellite images which will give a proper picture of the water bodies even at the farthest corners of the state. After going through the satellite images one will be able to know the condition of a particular water body, if it is suitable for pisciculture.

The farmers will also have prior information from the department on the nature of a pond before getting bank loans. Some of these parameters relating to the quality of water can be estimated from multispectral satellite images.

The Fisheries department is carrying out a study on an experimental basis at Chakda Block in Nadia and some other districts to estimate these water parameters using WV-II multispectral satellite image. The data are being verified through analysing water samples.But the real condition of water does not emerge as the WV-II data taken for sample verification is relatively old.