Fishing Gears in Lower Stretch of River Ganges and Issues Related to them With Regard to Sustainable Fisheries

The lowermost 500 km of the river Ganges in India faced major changes in its ecology and fisheries due to a major human induced modification in 1975 through the construction of Farakka barrage to divert sufficient portion of Ganga water through Bhagirathi for keeping Kolkata port functional. Increased freshwater discharge affected salinity regime by downward shifting of saline zone of the estuary. This stretch of the Ganga is known for its lucrative fishery of migratory hilsa along with many other prized fishes. A recent investigation revealed the presence of as many as 24 different types of fishing gears which are in operation to harvest fishes from all ecological niches. Major fishing gears involved in capture fishery in lower stretch of river Ganga in India are various forms of gill net and bag net. Bag nets contribute in average 73% of the total catch whereas drift gill net contribute about 24% of the total fish catch in Hooghly estuary. The rest of the gears catch about only 3% of the total catch. Distribution, seasonality and catch pattern of gears in different sampling centres are described in the present communication. It was observed that non-selective gears like Beenti jal (bag net), Chaurpata jal (set barrier), Ber jal (Seine net), Vessal jal (lift net), etc., catch lot of fish larvae and juveniles due to their smaller mesh size and thus poses a serious threat to sustainable fisheries in lower stretch of river Ganges. Formulation of suitable policies and their implementation is need of the hour to save precious fish diversity vis-a-vis fisheries.