Inland Fisheries

3.2.2.3 Fish and Fisheries of the Ganga river system

          More than 265 species of fishes have been recorded from this river system. The endangered Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica gangetica) is primarily found in the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers and their tributaries in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. The head waters of the Ganga system in the upper reaches of the Himalaya have snow trouts, catfishes, mahseers, lesser barils. Upto an elevation of 1067 m, mahseers, Tor putitora, T. tor and Acrosscheilus hexagonolepis, Bagarius bagarius and Labeo dero form main food fishes. In the plains, carps, catfishes (Osteobangrus aor and O. seenghala, collectively called tengra), Wallago attu , Hilsa ilisha, Pangasius, Notopterus etc. constitute the fishery. The prawns, Macrobrachium malcolmsoni and Palaemon lamarrei are also found. The catch statistics over the years indicate some disturbing trends in this riverine fisheries system. The biologically and economically desirable species have started giving way to the low value species, exhibiting an alarming swing in the population structure of the Gangetic carps. A survey indicates that contribution of Indian major carps has declined from 44.5% to 8% during the later half of the 20th century. In addition, there is an increasing domination of lower age groups in the commercial catches. The fishery of anadromous Hilsa have declined by 96% upstream of Farakka after construction of the Farakka Barrage in1974 due to obstruction of the migration route of the fish.