Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. 8 (2), April 2009, pp. 237-241 Fishing methods in the rivers of Northeast India S D Gurumayum 1* & M Choudhury 2 1 Gopaldev Mandir, Tourangbam Leikei, Uripok, Imphal, Manipur; 2 Northeastern Regional Center, CIFRI, Housefed Complex, Central Building, Dispur, Guwahati 781006, Assam E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]Received 21 August 2006; revised 19 November 2007 The Northeast frontier of India, which has been ranked 6 th among the top 25 biodiversity spot in the world demonstrates the absolute dependence of men on nature. Riverine fishery resources of these states comprise 19,150 km of streams and rivers with diversified fish fauna, having both torrential and plain forms but still the old traditional methods of fishing are prevalent and most of the practices followed are primitive and outdated as there is no new and reliable technology available. Some of the existing fishing methods in the hill steams are hooks and line, maze/ barricade, encircling gear, entangling gear, impaling gear, scooping gear, groping, impoundment, indigenous trap and noose fishing. For the large scale fishing destructive practices such as dynamiting and poisoning are employed. Electric fishing is also becoming very popular in some parts. Keywords: Fishing methods, Northeast India, Traditional medicine IPC Int. Cl. 8 : A01K61/00, A01K69/00, A01K73/00, A01K83/00 The seven Northeastern states of India, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura are blessed with diversified fish fauna, which assumes special interest due to the fact that the region is drained by two important drainages, viz., Brahmaputra- Barak and Chindwin Irrawaddy. This region has been ranked 6 th among the top 25 biodiversity spots in the world. It has varied physiographic features ranging from river valleys to snow capped mountains making it a favourable habitat for a variety of ichthyofauna. Despite such a rich resource potential, the region is lagging behind in its exploitation and management. In the high altitude stretches, utilization of rivers and streams is low due to biotic, abiotic and socio-economic constraints. Still a substantial part of the resources in this region remain unutilized and unavailable. A substantial part of the resource in the northeast comprises capture fisheries, the management of which requires higher skill. Little research attention has been given for development of fisheries in contrast to the other water bodies. Riverine fisheries resources of Northeastern states comprise 19,150 km of streams and rivers. Except the Brahmaputra and Barak valleys in Assam and Imphal valley in Manipur, the Northeast mainly comprises hills and mountains, which form 65% of its territory 1 . The mighty Brahmaputra and Barak along with their tributaries form more than half of rivers in this region. Rivers of this region consist of both torrential and plain rivers. In Arunachal Pradesh, the entire 2,000 km of rivers are of true rheophillic type. Assam alone has 5,050 km of rivers including all the tributaries of Brahmaputra and Barak. Manipur has two major rivers viz, the Barak and the Manipur with a combined length of 2,000 km. There are 21 rivers in the hilly state of Mizoram, which along with their tributaries run into 1700 km. Meghalaya’s 5,600 km of rivers mainly comprise the tributaries of Brahmaputra. Barak and Tizu are the main rivers of Nagaland, with a combined length of 1,600 km. Rivers of Tripura have a total length of 1,200 km. Ichthyofaunistic resources of the region exhibit a combination of both torrential and plain water forms as well as cold and warm water species and occupy diverse ecological regimes in their distributional range. The diversified aquatic ecosystem of the region harbours altogether, 230 fish species belonging to 103 genera and 36 families 2 . Endemic species recorded from these states are 12 each from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, 7 from Manipur, 6 from Meghalaya and one each from Mizoram and Tripura. __________ * Corresponding author
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