River Ranching Initiative to Boost Fish Stocks and Fisher Livelihood in River Ganga at Bihar under NMCG Program

ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI) has ranched a total of 143 lakhs of indigenous fishes comprising of Indian Major Carps (IMC), Mahseer and catfishes in 124 different events across 5 states of the country viz. Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal over the period of 2017 to 2024 under the esteemed Namami Gange Project.

The ranching programmes are carried out with fish size range of 10 to15cm with average weight of 100 to120g. The fishes are bred artificially using wild brooders of river Ganga and finally are grown upto fingerling/advanced fingerling size before releasing them in the river. In the state of Bihar, ICAR-CIFRI has ranched 19 lakh of IMC comprising of Rohu, Catla, Mrigal and Calbasu in five different locations (Patna, Buxar, Bhagalpur, Sultanganj and Munger) along river Ganga.

The maximum ranching programme in the state was done at the site Patna releasing 36% of the total seed followed by Bhagalpur (21%), Sultanganj (16%), Munger (16%) and Buxar (11%).  

The river ranching was supported by state government from time to time. on June 3, 2022, Shri Tarkishore Prasad, Hon’ble Dy. Chief Minister of Bihar graced the ranching event. Recently on  20^th July, Dr. N. Vijaya Lakshmi, IAS currently serving as a Principal Secretary, Fisheries, Government of Bihar participated the ranching program and appreciated all the members of the Namami Gange Project for their tireless efforts. Besides river ranching, ICAR-CIFRI is also engaged in building awareness for sustainable restoration and conservation of fisheries and aquatic organsisms.

Till date, under Namami Gange program 52 awareness campaigns has been carried out where 924 fishermen participated.