This story is from July 19, 2014

Barrage strikes Hilsa off UP platter

The delicious Hilsa has completely disappeared from Ganga water in Bhagalpur, Patna, Varanasi and Allahabad.Even giant fresh water prawn has disappeared.
Barrage strikes Hilsa off UP platter
VARANASI: The delicious Hilsa has completely disappeared from Ganga water in Bhagalpur, Patna, Varanasi and Allahabad. Even giant fresh water prawn has disappeared. Experts blame Farakka Barrage over Ganga in West Bengal as it has drastically altered the travel plan of the fish up to Allahabad for breeding.
A 2012 report of the Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI) on the status of Hilsa in Hooghly-Bhagirathi river said that in the past (pre-Farakka barrage period), the Hilsa of the Ganga river system used to migrate up to Agra, Kanpur and Delhi in years of excessive abundance, while in normal years the fish used to migrate up to Allahabad where maximum abundance was observed up to Buxar region.
Following the commissioning of Farakka barrage, Hilsa fisheries at upstream of the barrage was negligible in most of the fish landing centres.
In fact, the CIFRI report estimates of an average 92% reduction in Hilsa catch at upstream of Farakka barrage. The report further claimed that dams and barrages had obstructed Hilsa's migration leading to a sharp decline of its fisheries at upper reaches. The barrages or dams have also deprived water flow requirement for spawning and migration of Hilsa.
This has led to its price sky-rocketing up to Rs 600-800 per kg. "It is now imported from Kolkata," said fisherman Vinod Kumar Nishad. Assistant director of fishery department Arvind Mishra said, "The Hilsa grows in marine environment but migrates to fresh water for breeding. "Farakka dam lacks proper fish passes to assist migration," he said.
Even the report of Ganga River Basin Management Plan (September 2013), prepared by the consortium of 7 IITs, claims that earlier Hilsa used to travel over 1,200 km in inland water up to Allahabad for breeding. However, construction of Farakka Barrage in 1975 drastically altered its behaviour. Now Hilsa breeds in fresh water area and gradient stretches of Hooghly near the barrage and is restricted in the estuarine zone only. Its migration in the fresh water zone beyond Farakka has been stopped.

The report also holds change in migration pattern responsible for falling production capacity of the fresh water fish due to human indulgence, dams, withdrawal of large quantity of water, pollution and indiscriminate fishing.
"Hilsa has been a permanent part of our platter for the past many years. However, in the past few years, the availability of Hilsa in the market has gone down drastically. This has pushed up the prices of this variety of fish and at present the difference between the prices of Hilsa and prawn is very less. Now, the use of Hilsa has been restricted to certain occasions during the year, unlike the past," said Probhati Bose, adding the fish was a must for Bengalis in the state.
"Scant supply of Hilsa in the market and the resulting high price has forced us to switch to other varieties of fishes to meet the protein requirement of the daily diet. Over the years, we too have adjusted our tastes in such a way that Hilsa is consumed only on special occasions," said Ankita Ghosh, another Hilsa enthusiast.
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